Lyons had Right Chemistry with
Students
By Kristen Epler , The Commercial
Appeal
August 10, 1999 (A12)
Dr. Harold Lyons, a retired
professor at Rhodes College, died of heart failure Friday at Baptist Memorial
Hospital East. He was 80.
"He
was a real friend," said Dr. David Jeter, a chemistry professor at Rhodes
I taught with Dr. Lyons for 16 years. "I learned a lot from him in our
time teaching tog
"He
loved his teaching and his students," said his son William Lyons of Knoxville.
"His mind was alive to the very end. He kept reading and writing and
learning." Dr. Lyons taught analytical chemistry and biochemistry He
served as chairman of the Chemistry Department for 10 years.
Dr.
Lyons also advised many students aspiring to go to medical school but he was
beloved by all his students, Jeter said.
"Students responded warmly to him. He taught with such vitality,
enthusiasm and expertise that when those he advised got to medical school,
his work with them in his classes gave them a particular 'leg up.' "He made the students realize that what
they were doing was important, and they loved him for it," Jeter said.
"He affected so many lives."
"He
was the greatest influence I had in my life, and I tried to measure myself
and pattern myself after him as best I could," said his son Christopher
D. Lyons of Centreville, Va.
Lyons
enlisted in the U.S. Navy the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed and served
in the South Pacific as a Naval officer in anti-submarine warfare.
He
joined what was then Southwestern at Memphis in 1958 after working as a research
chemist in private industry. Dr. Lyons was honored at Rhodes as the first
recipient of the annual Charles E. Diehl Society Award for Faculty Service,
an award honoring a faculty member for outstanding service to the college.
He also co-authored Apocalypse Not: Science, Economics and Environmentalism
in 1993 with Dr. Ben Bolch, a Rhodes economics professor who retired this
year.
In
addition to his work at Rhodes, Dr. Lyons held a joint teaching arrangement
with the University of Tennessee, Memphis. There he was a professor of pathology
and director of the Pathology Graduate Program from 1962 to 1985.
Outside
work, Dr. Lyons served as an elder for Germantown Presbyterian Church and
worked in the church's Stephen Ministry, an outreach program for adults in
crisis.
Dr.
Lyons was a graduate of City College of New York and held master's and doctorate
degrees from Oklahoma State University. He was a longtime member of the American
Chemical Society and of Sigma Xi, the national honorary scientific fraternity.
Dr.
Lyons is also survived by his wife of 58 years, Helen G. Lyons; his oldest
son, Michael Lyons of Memphis; a sister, Miriam Lyons Cebula of Atlanta, and
five grandchildren.
Services
will be at 10 a.m. today at Germantown Presbyterian Church followed by burial
at Memorial Park. Memorial Park Funeral Home has charge. The family has asked
that any memorials be sent to Germantown Presbyterian Church.
To reach reporter Kristen Epler,
call 529-2324 or E-mail epler@gomemphis.com