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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-17/nicanor-reyes.webp" alt="Nicanor Reyes" loading="lazy"/>
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(Nicanor "Nick" Baptista Reyes Sr.)
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<p>
He earned an A.B. in 1915 from the University of the Philippines (UP), a bachelor's degree in Commercial Science from New York University in 1917, and a Master of Arts degree in Business Administration from Columbia University the following year. He received his Ph.D. in Accountancy from Columbia, the first Filipino to do so, which was also the first degree of its kind to be awarded by Columbia.
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He was regarded as culture hero for he pioneered four innovations in the Philippines: 
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Accountancy as a profession, 
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Business school, 
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Night classes and,
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Working Students.
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At the age of 34, Dr. Reyes saw that Accountancy as a profession was only availed by the elites and then  established the Institute of Accountancy in 1928 which was later renamed Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance (IABF), and produced the first batch of local Filipino accountants and business tycoons. 
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In 1933, IABF and Far Eastern College, founded by Vicente K. Fabella and others, merged giving rise to the FEU.
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In 1934 while president of the FEU, he headed the Department of Economics of the UP.
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The pre-war FEU building was demolished in 1937 to pave way for the construction of Colgante Boulevard, the present day Quezon Boulevard.  The present FEU building facing Quezon Boulevard was finished in 1939. It is now known as Nicanor Reyes Sr. Building.
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January 2, 1894: Nicanor Reyes Sr. founder and first president of the Far Eastern University was born in Trozo, Manila