Dr. Victor K. Schutz OBITUARY
Dr. Victor K. Schutz, 88, of Wynnewood, PA died peacefully at home on October 15. He is survived by his wife, Helen, whom he has been married to for 65 years, and their son Douglas as well has his sister Maria, sister-in-law Margaret, and his nieces and nephews Caroline (Joe), Pete (Amy), Susan (Todd), Geri (Mark), Mike (Wendi), Angelica (Brian), Heidi, and Chris (Belinda), and their children. He is predeceased by his mother Josephine, father Karl, brother Gary, and brother-in-law Peter. He was a German/Austrian World War II refugee as a child from the Czech Republic and was fortunate to then earn an American Field Service (AFS) international exchange scholarship to attend Lansdowne (PA) High School in the United States and achieve the American dream. He enjoyed teaching students, organizing engineering education conferences, skiing, jogging, hiking, and traveling to all 50 states, and to many countries around the world.
Vic was Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Temple University. He served as the founding Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Temple, where he hired top professors; the degree program went on to become accredited for the first time by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) under his leadership. He was a Temple Electrical and Computer Engineering Department faculty member for many years until his retirement. Previously Vic served on the faculties of Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Detroit where he met his wife Helen. His Ph.D. is from the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania where for his dissertation he designed a laser measurement standard for the U.S. Army. He was President of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Education Society and a Board Member of ASEE (American Society of Electrical Engineering). In ASEE, he held every office at the section and zone levels. A director of four Effective Teaching Institutes, he was the General Conference Chairman of the 1990 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference in Vienna and Budapest shortly after the Iron Curtain fell. This was the first time FIE took place in continental Europe.
A consultant to industry, government, and education, Vic was credited with the design and development of the Large Space Optics Laboratory at the NASA Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He was an early chief consulting engineer of NASA’s Large Space Telescope (LST) which became the Hubble Telescope. Among his awards are the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at Temple, two NASA faculty fellowships, the 1991 IEEE Education Society Meritorious Service Award, and the 2020 IEEE Education Society Distinguished Member Award for “outstanding long-term leadership, dedication, and service to the IEEE Education Society and for significant contributions to the fields of interest to the IEEE”.
A memorial services will be held on Saturday October 21st. at 10am at St. Colman’s Catholic Church, 11 Simpson Rd., Ardmore, PA, where the family will receive guests from 9am to 9:45am.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Vic Schutz Scholarship Fund:
Temple University – Giving to Temple University – by clicking the link.
When the link opens, people should check off “Other” in the “Selected Designations” list and then write “Vic Schutz Scholarship Fund” in the “Other” slot on the same page.