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The Tampa Bay business community lost a friend and mentor June 20 when B. Terry Aidman, 70, died suddenly during a family vacation in Colorado.
Aidman was born in Cleveland but lived in Florida for decades, moving to the Sunshine State in 1961. A CPA by training, the Tampa resident founded Aidman Piser & Co. in 1991 and served as its managing partner until 2008, when he sold the firm to Cherry Bekaert and Holland.
Also a certified merger and acquisitions advisor, Aidman was a business consultant for many companies across the Tampa region.
In 2012, Cherry Bekaert and Holland shortened its name to Cherry Bekaert and named Aidman partner emeritus.
In recent years, Aidman put his skills and experience to use as a leader and mentor. He was chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership and a member of the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business Executive Advisory Council. He also served on the advisory board at USF’s Lynn Pippenger School of Accountancy, and he was a member of the USF President’s Council.
In a statement posted on her organization’s website, Lynda Remund, Tampa Downtown Partnership’s acting president and CEO, remembers Aidman as “a true champion of Tampa’s downtown,” adding, “We are honored to have had him serve as our 2011 chairman.”
Mickey Jacobs of BDG Architects, Tampa Downtown Partnership’s current chairman, hails Aidman's legacy, stating, “Terry was a wonderful leader, mentor and community partner to all who were lucky enough to know him. We are all saddened by his passing.”
Florida Funders general partner Marc Blumenthal says he and Aidman had been friends for more than 25 years Aidman helped Blumenthal negotiate the sale of his first business, when Blumenthal was 36.
"He was a really insightful person. He had a giant intellect and heart, and he cared a great deal, at an unusual level," Blumenthal says in an interview. "He befriended you and got to know you as a whole person. Whenever he would provide counsel, it was to me the dad, me the husband, me the business owner, and I always admired and appreciated that. His approach was unorthodox, but not in a negative way. Terry didn’t just deal with the matter at hand — he dealt with the whole package. If you could embrace that, you got the magic of the insight that came from Terry."
Aidman is survived by his wife, Leslie; two children, Todd and Ashley; four grandchildren; three sisters and several nieces and nephews.
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