Death of Jerome Kurtz, Former IRS Commissioner

New York Times, Jerome Kurtz, 83, Dies; Headed I.R.S. in Carter Administration:

Jerome Kurtz, who as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service during the Carter administration was known for cracking down on tax shelters and other tax advantages for the wealthy, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 83. The cause was complications of surgery, his family said. ...

Mr. Kurtz graduated from Temple University in 1952 and from Harvard Law School in 1955. In 1956, he married Elaine Etta Kahn, an artist, and started a two-year stint in the Army. Mr. Kurtz had joined the law firm Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen in 1955 and returned to the firm after serving in the Army.

In 1966, he was recruited to the Treasury Department to work as a tax legislative counsel by the tax law scholar Stanley Surrey, who had taught Mr. Kurtz at Harvard and had a major influence on his philosophy toward tax policy, Mr. Rosoff said.

Mr. Kurtz returned to Wolf, Block in 1968. He was also a lecturer on taxation at Villanova Law School and the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

After leaving the I.R.S. in 1980, Mr. Kurtz went on to work as a partner in the Washington office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He was later a professor at New York University Law School, where he led its graduate tax program, and continued to do consulting work after he retired.

(Hat Tip: Mike Talbert.)