Joan and John Thalheimer flank 2008 Thalheimer award winner George Keeler '09, accompanied by Dean Paul Brown (left) and Dean David Wu (right)

Joan F. and John M. Thalheimer ’55 have generously established an endowment in support of the Joan F. & John M. Thalheimer ’55 Student Entrepreneurs Competition. The endowment supports grants to the winners of the competition and also funds entrepreneurship teaching and program expenditures, at the discretion of the dean of the College of Business and Economics.

The Thalheimers have long been committed to Lehigh University, generously supporting a number of areas including the Lehigh Fund, Challenge Scholarship Program, Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, the Zoellner Arts Center, and the College of Business and Economics’ Financial Services Laboratory endowment for their Class of 1955 Reunion Gift. They are members of Lehigh’s Tower Society and the Asa Packer Society. John Thalheimer has been a volunteer with the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Advisory Board, his Reunion Committee, and the National Leadership Committee, which served the university during its last campaign. Thalheimer received the Farrington Award for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship in 2008.

John Thalheimer says the gift shows his appreciation to Lehigh for preparing him for a happy and successful career.

“I got a wonderful education, emerged from being a shy, sheltered, immigrant, only child, and was well prepared for the business and social world. Lehigh taught me to cope with the challenges I encountered and helped me mature and become successful in life,” says Thalheimer. “When it was suggested I sponsor the entrepreneurial program, I felt this would be my opportunity to encourage young students to develop new ideas into meaningful business endeavors.”

A member of the Class of 1955, John Thalheimer holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy and materials engineering. While at Lehigh, he was president of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity and an active member of the Hillel Society.

Thalheimer is the first member of his family to earn a college degree. His father, Gus, along with uncles Max and Martin, emigrated from Germany to Philadelphia and founded Thalheimer Brothers, a family scrap metal business, in 1939. John was one of the few employees of the business, to which he returned after graduation from Lehigh.

The small business, which once traded only a couple of metals, has now grown into one of the largest, independent non-ferrous metal businesses in the United States, employing more than 100 people. The company purchases materials throughout North America and sells them around the world.

Thalheimer has served in numerous volunteer positions in the Philadelphia area, including as a trustee for Abington Memorial Health Care Corporation and as the executive director for the Abington Memorial Hospital Foundation. He and Joan are active supporters of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Joan Thalheimer is a graduate of Tufts University, where she was an English major. She serves as a Park House Guide through the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Thalheimers have two daughters, Gwen and Emily, and five grandchildren.

Related stories:

Awards honor students' entrepreneurial accomplishments (Feb 2008)

Keeler '09 grabs top honors in Joan F. & John M. Thalheimer '55 Student Entrepreneurs Competition (Dec. 2007)

Gift will boost student entrepreneurship (Jan. 2006)