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In Memoriam

  • 1946

    Mrs. Alberta H. Killian

  • 1955

    Mrs. Joan Wachowski Michalski
    Mr. Edward E. Yarasheski
    Mr. Harry W. Ennis

  • 1950

    Ms. Nancy Byerly Lorsong

  • 1956

    Ms. Geraldine Kolotelo

  • 1963

    Mr. James L. Jackiewicz

  • 1964

    Mr. W. Brooke Yeager, III

  • 1965

    Mr. John J. Sickler

  • 1967

    Mr. Paul P. Purta, Jr.
    Mr. Peter J. Winebrake

  • 1968

    Mr. James K. Belcastro
    Ms. Jean Steblinski

  • 1969

    Mr. Robert W. Hooper

  • 1972

    Mr. Harry P. Bielecki

  • 1973

    Mr. James P. McGinley
    Mr. George A. Hoeffner
    Ms. Janice Kiwak

  • 1977

    Mr. Paul Berdy
    Mr. David Kim Ross

  • 1978

    Mrs. Ellen Wengen

  • 1979

    Mr. Charles T. Hozempa

  • 1982

    Mr. Michael A. Gould

  • 1983

    Mr. Gregg A. Culp

  • 1986

    Mr. Bernard R. Spatz
    Mr. Michael F. Thornton

  • 1989

    Ms. Ann Marie Galli

  • 1997

    Ms. Stacie Ann Helen Powers

  • 2001

    Mr. Daniel C. Belch

Friends of Wilkes

  • Mrs. Estelle Berger
  • Mrs. Josephine Bogusko
  • Rev. Kenneth Carder
  • Mr. Anthony C. Cella
  • Mr. Walter R. Chappell
  • Mr. James Deice
  • Mr. Robert David Elias
  • Mrs. Ann Evans
  • Ms. Beverly Grossman
  • Mr. Robert D. Kapp
  • Mr. Theodore Killian
  • Julia Mazur
  • Mrs. Joan T. Pappas
  • Luis Alejandro Cespedes Ramirez
  • Mr. Robert W. Roberts
  • Mr. Jack Scheatzle
Black and white portrait orientation photograph headshot of Patricia Davies smiling

Patricia “Pattie” Davies, Trustee Emerita and First Female Chair of the Board

On June 25, 2024, trustee emerita Patricia “Pattie” Davies passed away at the age of 99 at her home in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Davies served on the University’s Board of Trustees from 1975 to 1997, at which time she was granted emerita status. She holds the distinction of being the first female chair of the Board, a title she held from 1984 to 1987.

As a trustee, she served on numerous committees and also chaired the development and nominations committees and led the search for the University’s fourth president, which resulted in Christopher Breiseth, PhD, and his family joining the Wilkes community.

In addition to her commitment to Wilkes, she extended her time and talents to organizations throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. She celebrated her love of music through work with the Wilkes-Barre Philharmonic Orchestra. As president, she collaborated with the leadership of the Scranton Philharmonic to create the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. The Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes also remembers her dedication to the visual arts as a member of their advisory commission.

Portrait orientation photograph headshot of Ruth Boorom Melberger smiling

Ruth Boorom Melberger ’62, Philanthropic Supporter and Donor

Portrait orientation photograph of Ruth Boorom Melberger and her husband Cliff smiling together posing for a picture standing together in professional gala event attire on some dark brown wooden staircase steps inside a building of some sort it appears
Ruth Boorom Melberger ’62 passed away on Sept. 4, 2024. Melberger was an art teacher for school districts in West Pittston and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. She was involved in the Junior League of Wilkes-Barre, the Wilkes University Alumni Association and served as a deacon at First Presbyterian Church in Wilkes-Barre. Together, with her husband Cliff, a Wilkes trustee from 1990 to 2007, she served on the board of the West Pittston Library and YMCA of Greater Pittston.

The Melbergers’ philanthropic support of Wilkes is deep and can be best illustrated in the students who have benefited from the Ruth Boorom Melberger ’62 Scholarship, established in 1998. The Melberger Courtyard near Stark Learning Center bears their name in recognition of all the ways the couple has supported Wilkes students.

In 2020, the Melbergers made an extraordinary unrestricted gift as a result of the challenges faced during the global pandemic. In 2022, they were bestowed with the University’s highest honor, the President’s Medal, in celebration of their lifetime of service to Wilkes.

Portrait orientation photograph headshot of Robert J. Heaman smiling

Robert “Bob” J. Heaman, Long-time Faculty and Staff Member and Proud Donor

Robert “Bob” J. Heaman, PhD, passed away on Oct. 17, 2024. Heaman joined Wilkes College teaching in the English department. He went on to serve on the 1983 presidential search committee and was the former assistant to the president, acting vice president of academic affairs and dean of arts and sciences. As a professor, he specialized in Victorian novels, particularly the works of Charles Dickens, and led student-trips to the Shakespeare Festival in Canada. In his retirement, he became the secretary-treasurer of the Dickens Society.

In 1964, he married Patricia Friel and had a daughter, Catherine, once he graduated from the University of Detroit with an English degree. He then earned his master’s and doctorate at the University of Michigan. In 1972, Bob married Patricia Boyle, who also taught English at Wilkes, and raised another daughter, Maggie. Together, they lived in White Haven, Pennsylvania.

Heaman and his late wife established the Patricia Boyle and Robert J. Heaman Scholarship at Wilkes, which is awarded to a junior or senior student majoring in English with a literature concentration who demonstrates excellence in English studies, has potential for advanced study in English and a record of scholarship and financial need.

Portrait orientation photograph headshot of Seymour Holtzman smiling

Seymour Holtzman ’57, Trustee

Seymour Holtzman ’57, a native of Wilkes-Barre, passed away on May 28, 2024. When Holtzman was a student, he met his wife of 67 years, Evelyn “Evie” Krohn Holtzman ’60. In 2017, he was elected to the University’s Board of Trustees. He served as the president and chief executive officer of Jewelcor, Inc., which operated a chain of retail stores throughout the United States. He was previously the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Gruen Marketing Corporation, which was a national distributor of watches. His business successes have been featured in Forbes, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and many other reputable business publications.

A shareholder activist, Holtzman’s defense of stockholders rights have been chronicled in the American Banker, The Washington Post and SNL Securities Monthly Market Report. In addition, he served as the national finance co-chairman for the Reagan-Bush campaign and was later appointed by President Reagan to the United States Department of Commerce’s Industry Policy Advisory Committee for trade policy matters. As an advocate of free trade, Holtzman was invited to advise the United States Senate Select Committee on international business and other economic matters.

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