Everett Van Hoesen, Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) department alumni, passed away on September 3, 2019 in Naples, Florida. He is survived by his wife Alice and five children: Richard, Mark, Karen, Kimberly, and David. He earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in 1955. He also held executive degrees from Columbia and Harvard Business Schools. At Lehigh he was a Distinguished Military Graduate, attained membership in the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi, and was honored with the ISE Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Industry in 2014. He had an abiding interest in advanced education and served prominently on advisory committees at Lehigh.
In addition, through a generous gift from the Van Hoesen family, the Van Hoesen Family Best Publication Competition was established in the ISE department in 2015. The competition is open to all Lehigh ISE department students and recognizes excellence in research. “Van”, as he was known, also supported and mentored first-generation college students at Lehigh, Cedar Crest College, and Florida Gulf Coast University.
Van began a 30-year career with IBM in 1955 in manufacturing. He went on to become President of the Information Records Division and retired as President of the Industrial Systems Group. His many achievements included overseeing production of more than one million Selectric typewriters in 1974; in 1976 he launched the first blood cell separator used at MD Anderson to enable the use of chemo “cocktails”. Consequently, major strides were made in curing cancer, including the first bone marrow transplants. At his direction, his biomedical team also provided the first portable computerized EKG diagnostic device. Other innovations he helped to guide were the introduction of IBM's first robotics machines, direct and wholesale products distribution, the introduction of IBM products retail stores, and guiding his engineering team as they designed and built the first prototypes of a personal computer at IBM.
The ISE department is grateful for the Van Hoesen family’s support and is pleased to carry on Everett’s legacy. His full obituary can be read here.