On Monday, Sept. 24, former Elizabethtown College President Gerhard Ernst Spiegler passed away after a month-long illness. He was 85 years old.
Spiegler served as the College’s President from 1985 to 1996. During his time at Etown, he oversaw the building of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, the demolition of Rider Hall, a renovation of the BSC as well as the construction of the Schreiber Quadrangle. The brand-new High Library received a digital upgrade during his tenure, and the first version of the Pledge of Integrity was instated in the Student Handbook. The Environmental Science major was first offered as an option to students while Spiegler headed the College.
Before teaching at and then presiding over the College, Spiegler was Provost and Acting President at Haverford College, taught at the University of California- Berkeley, was Provost of Temple University and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Spiegler was the recipient of a University of Chicago Distinguished Research Award. The Danforth Foundation lauded him for excellence in teaching. He was the author of several books, whose subjects spanned from theology and ideology to world politics and interfaith dialogue. To honor his contributions to the College, Etown trustees and community members established an endowment to support Prestigious Scholarships, a cause about which he was passionate, upon his retirement.
Spiegler was laid to rest on Saturday, Aug. 29. His family asks that, in lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor him make donations in his name to the Salvation Army, the United Nations Refugee Agency or the American Heart Association.