It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Shannon Pratt, who died over this past weekend at age 88. He contributed more to the development of the business valuation profession than any single individual. Armed with a vision, he published his first book in 1981 (Valuing a Business) and began the process of transforming a small group of untrained professionals into the true profession it is today. Along the way, Dr. Pratt would write many more books and articles, teach courses, and give hundreds of presentations—touching thousands with his wisdom as well as his humor and charm. Everyone in the business valuation profession owes him a great debt of gratitude.
Dr. Pratt was the founder of Business Valuation Resources, LLC (BVR), which continues to maintain his Pratt’s Stats database (now DealStats) along with providing other deal and market data, news and research, training, and publications. David Foster, BVR’s CEO, recalls: “I befriended Shannon first as a publisher, before I knew he was the leading voice of the young business valuation profession. At the time, though he was already known worldwide, he was new to our industry, but he took avid notes, listened and questioned carefully, and learned from all of us rapidly. He was always the first to share his start-up mistakes willingly, so we learned from him, too. When his health required that he sell BVR, he came back to our publishing community with generosity and kindness. He could have sold BVR elsewhere but felt strongly that he wanted to repay our early support—training his first hires, sharing war stories over martinis, and talking shop during endless doubles tennis matches. Shannon’s loyalty to this group of friends he made later in his life changed my life profoundly, and I remain forever thankful to him and to Millie and his family for trusting us.”
Of course, the tributes have started coming in from fellow practitioners. “His contribution to our profession was enormous,” says Jay E. Fishman (Financial Research Associates), who is on BVR’s advisory board. “I am happy we got to write, teach and hang out together.” Veteran valuer and BVR legal editor Jim Alerding (Alerding Consulting) agrees: “Shannon was no doubt the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) in our profession. He made the profession out of whole cloth. I first met him in 1991 when I was on a panel with him for an eight-hour program. He welcomed me to the group with open arms and he treated me with the greatest of respect and friendship the rest of his life. He seemed to always treat people with respect whether he knew you or not. He will be greatly missed. His contributions to the body of knowledge in business valuation are immeasurable.”
Ron Seigneur (Seigneur Gustafson LLP), who is also on BVR’s advisory board, adds: “What a legend our profession has lost with the passing of Dr. Shannon Pratt. Shannon was so kind and gracious to me in the early years when I got to know him as a friend and mentor, and he inspired me to take a deeper dive into business valuation as a profession. I hope we can all find ways to pay it forward to the next generation of valuation professionals who will continue to benefit from his many contributions.”
There will be many more words of tribute and remembrance, and we will share them in future issues.