Stephen Harlan, the regional face of KPMG for decades and a force behind some of Greater Washington’s most prominent business organizations, has died from complications in his battle against lung cancer. He was 89.
Harlan, a St. Louis native and an Army veteran who served during the Korean War, spent 32 years with the Big Four accounting giant or one of its predecessor firms. Upon graduating with an accounting degree from the University of Missouri, he started off in the St. Louis office of Peat Marwick & Mitchell in 1959.
From there, he had served in the firm’s New York executive office as a partner-in-charge, overseeing auditing, long-range planning and research, before transferring to D.C. in 1975 to helm its local operations as a managing partner. He held that role, growing Peat Marwick’s D.C.-area presence, for a dozen years and, with wife Joan, made this region their longtime home.
When firms Peat Marwick and Klynveld Main Goerdeler merged in 1987 to form KPMG, Harlan rose…
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