Prominent accountant Moe dies at 88

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 | 8:37 a.m.

Kermit Allen Moe, who co-founded one of Las Vegas' first major accounting firms and played key roles with the Better Business Bureau and Nevada State Board of Accountancy, died Jan. 30 at a Las Vegas hospice. He was 88.

Moe in 1945 co-founded with Nelson Harlin Conway the accounting firm of Conway, Moe & Hibbs. Later, as Conway, Moe, Hibbs & Funston the business became Nevada's largest independent certified public accountancy firm.

Conway, who died in 1990 at age 79, was one of a group of investors who founded the Showboat that became the Castaways, which closed last week. In 1966, Conway, Moe, Hibbs & Funston merged with the national accountancy firm of Main Lafrentz & Co., for which Moe and Conway became managing partners.

Two years later, Moe was named chairman of the finance committee of the Clark County United Fund -- today United Way -- where he was in charge of collecting pledges and managing the endowment funds, securities and investments. For many years, Moe was a trustee of the United Fund.

The son of Norwegian immigrants, Moe was born March 8, 1915, in Richmond, Calif. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in accounting and had been a member of the school's tumbling squad.

Moe came to Las Vegas from Springfield, Ore., in 1944 and soon established himself as a business and community leader, serving as secretary of the Better Business Bureau and president of both the state's board of accountancy and the Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants.

In 1946, Moe married Olga Silvagni, daughter of Las Vegas developer P.O. Silvagni, and the couple had twin sons Timothy and Gregory Moe. Olga and Timothy preceded Moe in death.

Moe served as past director of the Kiwanis Club and was a founding member of the Paradise Valley Country Club, now called the Wild Horse Golf Course.

Moe married his second wife, the former Dorian "Anne" Wirkkala, in 1964. The couple moved to Hawaii after Moe retired in 1978. They returned to Las Vegas in 1995. She survives him.

Other survivors include son Gregory Moe, of Dallas, Texas, and four grandchildren.

There were no services. Bunker Mortuary handled the arrangements.