William “Bill” B. Eagleson ’49 ’83H ’88P and Peter Eagleson ’49 ’52G ’98H knew what it meant to be Lehigh graduates. They appreciated the doors and possibilities their educations opened and the pride and close ties that characterized the Lehigh alumni community. That’s why Bill and his wife, Catherine “Cantor,” created a legacy of scholarship support in the Eagleson family name through an endowed bequest: so that they could continue to open those doors for others. The bequest was borne of a lifetime of Lehigh connections. The elder of the brothers, Bill, was born in 1925 in Philadelphia, but Peter, born in 1928, was the first of the two to attend Lehigh. Bill was serving in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 and joined Peter at Lehigh upon his discharge. In 1949, both graduated with bachelor of science degrees — Bill’s awarded summa cum laude in business administration and economics and Peter’s in civil engineering. From there, the brothers’ paths diverged but led both to the heights of their respective professions. Right after graduating, Bill entered into the Federal Reserve’s executive training program, eventually earning his MBA from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1951. He joined Girard Trust Company as a security analyst that same year. He was elected president of the bank in 1970 and chairman of the board in 1973, holding that position until the 1983 Girard-Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh merger, when he became chairman of Mellon Bank Corporation. Bill retired from Mellon in 1985 and served on advisory bodies to the U.S. Treasury and the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System. He was a Lehigh University trustee for more than 40 years, serving on the finance committee. He also was a trustee for the boards of Anchor Hocking, Pennwalt, and Foote Mineral Company, among others. 11 Peter, having participated in advanced ROTC at Lehigh, was called for active duty with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after graduating. Upon discharge, he returned to Lehigh for a master’s degree in engineering, specializing in hydraulics. Even before earning his degree in 1952, he was recruited by noted hydrologist Arthur T. Ippen to pursue Ph.D. research work in MIT’s new hydrodynamics laboratory. Peter joined the MIT faculty as a civil engineering instructor in 1954, became an assistant professor in 1955, and completed his Ph.D. in 1956. After a distinguished academic career as a pioneer in hydrology, he retired in 1993 and went on to publish two books that bridged the fields of hydrology and ecology. In 1997, he was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize. In early 2021, both Bill and Peter passed away within one month of each other. Bill was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Cantor, who passed in September 2020. The couple are survived by their children, John Eagleson ’88 (Bowen) and Elizabeth (Keith), and four grandchildren. The Eagleson legacy endures not only in their family, but through their many successes and the lives they touched during long careers of service and executive and academic leadership. The Eagleson name also lives on in the students — today and tomorrow — whose Lehigh educations are made possible through Bill and Cantor’s dedication and generosity and the William B. and Catherine M. Eagleson Scholarship Fund. The Eagleson family, after all, knows how very much it means to be Lehigh people for life.
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