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Alan R. Griffith ’64, chair of the Board of Trustees, will present the Lafayette Medal for Distinguished Service to John W. Landis ’39 at the 172nd Commencement Saturday. The award will be accepted by Landis’ nephew, William L. Landis ’71.
The Lafayette Medal for Distinguished Service was commissioned in 1987 by the Board of Trustees to honor alumni and friends who have provided exemplary service to the College. It is the College’s premier award for volunteers, given to those who have a demonstrated record of voluntary service in a variety of areas with noteworthy achievement in each. The Lafayette Medal was last given in 2002.
The medal was designed by Frank Gasparro, the eleventh Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, and is based on the bust of the Marquis de Lafayette that was executed in 1790 by noted French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). The medal includes Pardee Hall in the background and Lafayette’s signature from a personal letter to George Corbin Washington, adopted son of President and Mrs. George Washington and caretaker of Mount Vernon.
JOHN W. LANDIS ’39, retired president of Gulf General Atomic Co. and Stone & Webster Engineering Corp., has been a loyal supporter of Lafayette. A specialist in nuclear engineering, he was recognized nationally for his engineering knowledge and leadership with election to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering.
In recognition of Landis’ contributions to the development of nuclear power, Lafayette awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1960. He was president of three international technical societies and chair of the American National Standards Institute, the U.S. Energy Research Advisory Board, and Fusion Power Associates. His numerous awards include the Winston Churchill Medal of Wisdom and the coveted Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award.
Landis served on Lafayette’s Board of Trustees for 18 years, becoming a trustee emeritus in 1988. He also served as a trustee for Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, and chaired the Board of Trustees at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. He received Lafayette’s Joseph E. Bell ’28 Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1995 and in 1972 he won the George Washington Kidd, Class of 1836, Award, which is presented to alumni who have achieved distinction in their fields. He was an Alumni Visiting Fellow and served as a guest lecturer at Lafayette.
Raised in Phillipsburg, N.J., Landis was the oldest of five brothers to attend Lafayette, graduating with a degree in engineering physics summa cum laude. He received the George Wharton Pepper Prize for the Class of 1939 and was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa national academic honorary society and Tau Beta Pi national engineering honorary society.
He and his late wife, Moravian alumna Muriel Souders Landis, shared an interest in volunteering in high school and continued to share a devotion to civic, community, educational, and charitable causes though six decades of marriage. The couple supported the Landis Community Outreach Center, the Landis Lecture Series on issues related to technology and international cooperation, the renovation of an engineering laboratory, student financial aid, and construction of the Landis Atrium in Farinon College Center. They were especially pleased that their endowment for the Landis Community Outreach Center benefited residents of the Easton and Phillipsburg areas since both Mr. and Mrs. Landis had grown up in Phillipsburg.
Landis is a member of the College’s Société d’Honneur, the Marquis Society, the Fleck Consistent Giving Society, and the James Madison Porter Society.