John Karakash

John J. Karakash
John J. Karakash, educator, humanitarian and athlete died Wednesday, March 22. A distinguished professor and Dean Emeritus of engineering at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, he was also internationally recognized for focusing attention on citizenship, foreign affairs and ethics in public policy. Many recent editorial page contributions on these issues were published in the Allentown based Morning Call. Born in Turkey June 14, 1914 of Greek parents, he entered the U.S. with an athletic scholarship after winning the 1935 Balkan nations Olympic Games javelin event. He earned a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Duke in 1937, and entered the University of Pennsylvania as a Moore Fellow, completing a Master of Science degree in 1938. He taught briefly at Park College outside Kansas City and served as education director at American Television Laboratories in Chicago. He helped improve and train military staff in the use of defense equipment including radar, later joining the team developing ENIAC, recognized as the first electronic computer. He also collaborated with Hanemann Medical College scientists in the study of mechanical hearts. Professor Karakash joined the Lehigh faculty in 1946, was named head of the electrical engineering department in 1956 and 10 years later became Dean of the College of Engineering, a position he held until retirement in 1981. He received many university awards included an honorary doctorate in 1971 and the name of a rebuilt wing of Packard Laboratory in his honor in 1981. A quotation on the dedication plaque expresses his way of life, ...our goal is to produce good people - young men and women who learn to think to the point where thinking is a habit, who have been exposed to and encouraged to develop and live by a set of values, who have developed methods and approaches to the intelligent application of knowledge and, last but not least, who accept the virtue of work as a vehicle of service and the will to work as a self-discipline. He was active in professional and honorary societies, served on advisory boards, was a member of the Professional Accrediting Society for Engineering Colleges and consulted for major corporations. His listing in Whos Who in America ends with this quote: In free societies, whenever rules and regulations, because of changing times, are in conflict with principles, it is the principles that need be conserved, and the conflicting rules and regulations summarily discarded. He resided at Kirkland Village, Bethlehem, PA in recent years. He was predeceased by the late Marjorie Rutherford Karakash, his wife of 50years; a brother, Theodore and sister, Nina Karakash Papadopoulos. Survivors: Son, John of Lewisburg, PA; sister-in-law, Roxanne; grandchildren, nieces, nephews and two great-granddaughters. Services: A memorial service will be held Monday, April 10 at 4:10 P.M. in Packer Chapel on the Lehigh University Campus. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the donors choice of The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 269, Alexandria, VA 22313; the Northampton County ASPCA, 1165 Island Park Road, Easton, PA 18042; or the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, 1600 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.