LehighWeek Volume 02, Issue 27 and Community Report

              SPECIAL    EDITION
thlehem, Pennsylvania
Volume Two,
Issue Twentyseven
April 26, 1989
President Emeritus Deming Lewis Dies At 74
Dr. W. Deming Lewis, scholar, inventor, engineer, and
president of Lehigh University for 18 years, died Wednesday.
April 19 at the age of 74.
Lewis came to Lehigh in 1964 to assume the university
presidency. During his tenure, the longest in Lehigh's 124-
year hsitory. the university first admitted women as undergraduates and its graduate programs, range of curriculum,
extent of research, fundraising and size of physical plant all
increased.
In spite of his record of successes. Lewis attributed his
long tenure to "inertia and the sufferance of the trustees."
That he accomplished what he set out to do as Lehigh's
chief administrator for almost two decades is apparent to his
successor. Peter Likins.
"Deming Lew is helped shape Lehigh as we know it
today." Likins said.
"He'set the agenda that we are now addressing with
gathering speed. Deming had a vision of Lehigh as a total
university, rich.in diversity across the disciplines and across
the spectrum from freshmen to doctoral students. I feel
privileged to succeed him at Lehigh. More importantly. I feel
privileged to have known such a fine person."
More than 300 friends remembered Lewis at a memorial
service Saturday in Packer Memorial Church.
"Knowing Deming was a special experience which
enriched one's life." recalled Paul J. Franz, vice president
emeritus for development and university relations, in an
address entitled "An Appreciation of a Life."
"He was a consummate gentleman. He did not know how
to be devious." Franz said. Lewis attained the "goal of
achieving excellence in the education of the whole
person."Franz said, adding, "this is why we enjoyed this man
so much."
"I never ceased to be amazed by Deming's knowledge of
almost any subject." said Franz, recalling that Lewis would
apply himself with confidence in any discipline. For example.
Lewis would complete the New York Times crossword puzzle
in pen and was unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit, he said. When
the pressures of the presidency got to him. Lewis would play
squash, a game that affected him "like a tonic." Franz said.
On June 16. 1964. the space engineer and research director
was chosen as the president of Lehigh. In his letter of
acceptance. Lewis said. "There are no finer goals than those
of Lehigh University, and I can think of no more challenging-
or satisfying job than working toward them."
Then 49. he was described at his installation as "a
towering man who brings
to the men's campus a
genius for mathematics, a
penchant for research and
a family of four attractive, date-eligible
daughters."
In his inaugural
address. Lew is called for
broad undergraduate
programs to provide a
firm understanding of
fundamentals, specialized
graduate and research
training and continuing
education.
At the time. Lehigh's
strengths were mainly in
engineering, mathematics
and related sciences, but
the new president had a broader vision.
"1 thought that Lehigh was a fine technological university
but that it had not reached the scope of being a more rounded
university, with more humanities and more research." Lewis
recalled in the Lehigh Alumni Bulletin shortly before his
retirement in 1982.
"I felt my goal for the university was to see Lehigh
become a more complete university and a better-known
university, a university with more research, a university
Deming Lewis
"Deming Lewis helped shape Lehigh as we
know it today."
■Peter. Likins
where a person could go and get a very good education in a
great number of fields and where a person would have a
number of significant opportunities to develop into graduate
studies if he wished." he said.
Progress was achieved on many fronts. Today. Lehigh
students can major in the study of several fields that were not
offered as majors years ago.
Under Lewis' leadership the undergraduate population
increased from 3.000 to 4.500. and women were made part of
the undergraduate student body in 1971.
In 1965. Lewis created the Visiting Committee program,
through which outside experts were invited to periodically
evaluate Lehigh curriculua to give the school an objective
view of itself. Lewis had served on a similar committee at
Harvard, his alma mater.
The Augusta. Ga. native's career also included 23 years as
a scientist and inventor at Bell Laboratories and as an
administrator with the Apollo space program.
Lewis was a mathematician and physicist who worked on
the nation's first radar systems, wrote the equation of a
phonograph needle moving in a groove and was a guiding
force in the engineering for the Apollo project that put the
first American on the moon.
He enrolled at Harvard University at 16. where he earned
three degrees. He received two additional degrees at England's Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar in
advanced mathematics.
At Bell Labs from 1941 to 1964. he was one of four
American scientists who initiated in 1962 the work of
Bellcomm Inc. in Washington. D.C. the Bell System
subsidiary devoted chiefly to systems engineering for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Apollo Project.
"We put the whole procedure of getting to the moon on
computer and controlled the project from an engineering point
of view." Lewis said in 1982. "lt (the project) involved about
200.000 people."
He held 33 U.S. patents on such devices as microwave
antennas and filters and digital error detection systems, and he
authored many, articles for learned and technical journals.
Members of Lehigh's Asa Packer Society established a
S250.000 scholarship fund in Lewis' name in 1981. At the
dinner at which the scholarship was announced, an actor
portraying founder Asa Packer said. "Under his [ Lewis')
tutelage, we have seen greatness come to Lehigh. He has
given us the confident leadership, the humanistic tendency,
and the personal energy which sustains the spirit of the
university."
Lehigh alumni established the Deming Lewis Faculty
Award, which is presented to the member of the faculty
deemed to have had the greatest impact on undergraduate
lives by members ot the 10-year reunion class.
At Lewis' last Lehigh commencement in 1982. Dr. John
Oswald, president of Pennsylvania State University, said of
Continued On Page 2>
INSIDE
This special edition of LehighWeek
features a report on university
people's involvement in their communities. It also includes the regular
edition of the South Mountaineer,
BULLETIN BOARD 2
JOB LISTINGS
CALENDAR 4
The last issue of LehighWeek for the
spring semester is published May 3.
Deadline for this issue is Friday,
April 28. LehighWeek will publish
one issue per month during June,
July, and August.
Former Bursar Edith A. Seifert Dies
Miss Edith A. Seifert. the only woman to
achieve the position of Bursar at Lehigh,
died April 19 in St. Luke's Hospital. She
was 81 and a resident of 561 Ontario St..
Bethlehem.
Miss Seifert retired as bursar emeritus
after 46 years of service in Lehigh's
Bursar's office. She joined the business staff
in 1923 as a secretary to Lehigh's first
bursar. She was promoted to cashier in
1947: to assistant bursar in 1956: and bursar
in I960.
During her time in the bursar's office.
Miss Seifert saw the office grow from two
to 11 employees and the volume of cash
receipts for payments jump from 30 per day
to an averaae of 200.
" She was a graduate
of the Bethlehem
Business College.
A life-time resident
of Bethlehem, she was a
daughter of the late
Edwin and Clara Jane
Mohr Seifert.
Miss Seifert was a
member of the First
United Church of Christ
of Bethlehem, where
she taught Sunday school for 15 years. She
also served as an adult advisor to the youth
group for seven years and as a member of
the altar and flower committee for five
years. She had also been a deacon and an
Edith Seifert
elder at the church.
She was a member of Friends of the
Lehigh University Libraries. Friends of the
Bethlehem Area Public Library. Friends of
Historic Bethlehem and the Sun Inn
Preservation Association. She was also a
member of the YWCA of Bethlehem, AARP
and the Senior Citizens Council. Inc.. of
Bethlehem. She was an associate member of
the Smithsonian Institution. Washington
D.C.
There are no immediate survivors.
Services were held April 21 at the Lester
S. Pearson Funeral Home. Bethlehem.
Memorial contributions may be sent to
either the church. 15 W. Fourth St.. Bethlehem. PA. 18015. or the Bethlehem Area
Public Library. 11 W. Church St.. Bethlehem, PA.T 8018