In Memoriam: Ken Tarby was a Teacher with Rare Gifts

Wise teacher and trusted adviser, dedicated administrator and Carnac the Magnificent, Stephen Kenneth “Ken” Tarby, who died this month at the age of 82, filled many roles and played them all with relish and competence in 41 years on the Lehigh faculty.

“Ken Tarby was a true gentleman and a devoted and dedicated teacher, highly respected by the faculty and loved by students,” said his colleague Martin P. Harmer, professor of materials science and engineering. “He was indeed one of Lehigh’s finest and a steady rock for our department for years.

“We were all spoiled in having Ken as our associate chair, especially when it came to undergraduate advising. When an undergraduate student asked me for advice, all I had to say was three magic words—‘see Dr. Tarby!’”

“Ken was a dear friend for over 30 years,” said Sharon Coe, event coordinator for the materials science and engineering department. “He was the rock of the department—dependable, likeable, honest, funny and a real gentleman.”

“The welfare of all materials science undergraduates was very important to Ken,” said Charles Lyman, professor of materials science and engineering. “Even after he retired, he reviewed the schedules of our students, noting any deficiencies that needed correcting. And walking into his office, you were immediately put at ease as the classical music on his radio soothed you.”

Tarby joined the faculty of the department of materials science and engineering in 1961, when it was called the department of metallurgical engineering. Over the next four decades, he won kudos for his scholarship in thermodynamics and for his ability to teach difficult concepts to students. He also served his department as interim chair, as associate chair for more than 20 years and as the R.D. Stout Professor of materials science and engineering.

“When we arrived in Bethlehem in 1997, Ken and Gloria [Tarby’s wife] were among the first to welcome us,” said Slade Cargill, former department chair of materials science and engineering. “Ken was encouraging, thoughtful and cheerful. His was concerned for the well-being of students, staff and faculty, and he was always a good friend.”

“As a graduate student, I had Ken for the most difficult graduate class—thermodynamics,” said John N. DuPont ’94G ’97 Ph.D., the current R.D. Stout Professor of materials science and engineering. “Ken was, without a doubt, one of the most talented, caring and down-to-earth teachers I had the pleasure of knowing. He was an outstanding communicator who had the special ability to take the most complicated subjects and describe them in a way that made them easy to understand.

“More importantly, his genuine enthusiasm for teaching was inspiring, and his care for students was always obvious. He was delighted when students asked for help, and he displayed incredible patience as students required time to grasp the complicated topics he was teaching.”

In addition to his reputation as a demanding but fair professor—qualities that earned him the nickname “the Hammer”—Tarby was also remembered for his sense of humor. At the materials science department’s annual holiday banquet, when faculty members and students roasted each other, Tarby took delight in impersonating Carnac the Magnificent. Created by late-night TV show host Johnny Carson, Carnac was a mystic who correctly answered questions before they were asked.

At his retirement party in 2002, Tarby’s former students and colleagues remembered his special qualities.

“Ken Tarby’s name is synonymous with chemical metallurgy at Lehigh, a program he directed for many years, and the required courses of which usually struck fear in the hearts of undergraduate and graduate students alike,” said Alan W. Pense, former Lehigh provost, engineering dean and department chair of materials science.

“In spite of this, he received the College Teaching Excellence Award in 1984 and again in 1998.”

“Of the many quality professors I have had the pleasure of learning from,” Rick Noecker ’96 ’03 Ph.D., said in a testimonial to Tarby, “you have a distinctly unique combination of technical expertise, the ability to clearly present difficult subjects, and, one of the most overlooked attributes of a university professor, the ability to express sincere concern for students through unbending standards coupled with an uncompromising desire to help students meet those standards.”

“I could write tomes about the impact you personally had on me and many of my fellow students,” said Al Romig ’75 ’77 M.S. ’79 Ph.D. “Not only did you teach us ‘thermo the way God intended,’ but you taught us much about being human beings, about integrity, honesty, hard work and team playing. I owe much of my personal career success to my experiences at Lehigh of which you were a pivotal part.”

“You taught with a mixture of good-natured, easy humor and ominous rigor,” said Tom Castle ’78 ’80G. “You enjoyed laughing with us in class before our exams, and we imagined you chuckling as you graded our feeble attempts to run the thermodynamic gauntlet you constructed for us.

“But you made the subject interesting and exciting with your own zest for its mysteries, and at our Christmas banquet, through the haze of cigars, we could see that you were having as grand a time as we seniors and that you were teaching us things of value beyond the constructing of mass/energy balances.”

Tarby received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and served in the U.S. Army’s Nuclear Power Program before joining the Lehigh faculty. He was a member of the Iron and Steel Society of AIME (the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers), ASM International and Sigma Xi.

Tarby was also an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem. He sang in his church choir and in the Concord Chamber Singers of Bethlehem.

He is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren.

Story by Kurt Pfitzer