Lehman, Robert C. (1929-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Feb 16 p. 8

Birth date: 1929 Mar 22

text of obituary:

EMU professor, energy conservationist dies

By Eastern Mennonite University staff

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Robert C. Lehman, a retired Eastern Mennonite University faculty member who did extensive energy research and conservation projects on campus, died Feb. 2, just four days after his sister, another former EMU professor, passed away.

Lehman, 79, professor of physical science from 1955 to 1980, died at Rockingham Memorial Hospital.

Four days earlier, his sister, Esther K. Lehman, 85, died (MWR, Feb. 9) She was professor emerita of education.

Lehman was born March 22, 1929, in Harrisonburg, the son of Chester K. and Myra Kendig Lehman.

At EMU he taught astronomy and physics courses and was director of the M.T. Brackbill Planetarium from 1967 to 1979.

Lehman spent a 1976-77 sabbatical year designing and implementing projects and programs to raise awareness of energy conservation on campus.

He installed a monitor in the Suter Science Center, where anyone interested could see real-time graphing of the peaks and valleys of the college's daily energy demands. Lehman's study prompted the administration to repair steam lines that were losing heat in the winter, modify heating and cooling systems to be more efficient, change some lighting to use less electricity and and invest more in energy-saving maintenance. The result was a $66,000 reduction in utility costs in a single year.

"Robert was always an innovative, strategic thinker with basic competence in many areas," said John L. Horst, professor emeritus of physics.

In 1970, Lehman was named president of Homes Foundation, a local non-profit group that developed housing for low- and moderate-income families. He was co-founder and first president of Park View Federal Credit Union.

A 1950 EMU graduate, he earned a master's degree in physics and a doctorate in biophysics from Penn State University.

On June 10, 1954, he married Ruby K. Swartzendruber, who survives. Also surviving are four children, Judith Ann, James Alan, Donald LeRoy and Douglas Chester Lehman; a sister, Dorothy L. Yoder, and four grandchildren, Alison, Eric, Brian and Michael Lehman.

He was a member of Park View Mennonite Church, where a memorial service was scheduled for Feb. 16.