Lehigh alumnus Donald L. Talhelm ’59 ’60G ’78P ’81P, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering and a former ECE associate department chair, passed away November 10, 2024, at the age of 92.
Talhelm earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Lehigh following his service in the US Navy during the Korean War. He joined Lehigh’s faculty as the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation Fellow in Electrical Engineering in 1960 and was an instructor in electrical engineering for 35 years. He taught classes on topics including control systems and communication networks.
He was named an assistant professor in 1979 and became a tenured associate professor in 1985. Over the years, he served as head of electrical engineering and associate chair of the department.
Talhelm was among a trio engineering faculty members who led the development of the Benzien Interdisciplinary Controls Laboratory, which was established in 1991 with alumni, government, and industry support to “dissolve some of the barriers between chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering,” according to an article in the Lehigh Alumni Bulletin. The team published an article about the effort in the Journal of Engineering Education.
Talhelm was a member of academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa and engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi. He was active with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and received the designation of Life Senior Member. He was honored twice with the Outstanding Branch Counselor Award in recognition of his work as an advisor to Lehigh’s IEEE student branch, including his involvement with the group as it marked its centennial in 2002. An honor for continuing leadership and mentoring awarded by the IEEE Lehigh Valley Section bears his name.
Talhelm retired in 1995 and continued to be an active member of the Lehigh community, through philanthropy, volunteering, and service to the Class of 1959 reunion committee. Both of his children, Karen L. Knauer ’78 '05P and Kevin Talhelm ’81, are Lehigh alums.
The Talhelm and Knauer Family Endowed Scholarship Fund was created in January 2020 by Talhelm, Karen Knauer, and Paul Knauer '76 '05P to award scholarships to first-generation undergraduate Lehigh students with demonstrated financial need.
Read Talhelm’s full obituary here.
