Richard H. Lyndes '54

Growing up on a farm outside of Cleveland, Richard “Dick” Lyndes ’54 learned an appreciation for the great outdoors. He also struggled to pay his tuition at Case Institute of Technology. Both experiences helped to shape him as a civil engineer and, in the twilight of life, a philanthropist.

In 2023, at age 90, Lyndes created The Lyndes Memorial Scholarship Fund with a gift of $60,550. It will forever support civil and environmental engineering majors, especially students with limited resources facing high financial need. “I’ve always had a fond place in my heart for scholarships, especially for the people who otherwise would not have gotten through,” explained Lyndes. “My parents were farmers, they didn’t have anything.”

Despite working in the steel mills of Lorain and on the docks of Cleveland, the former valedictorian of Elyria High School needed help to pay for college. It came from the Case Alumni Association. Lyndes never forgot. He has donated to the Case Fund every year for 38 years.

“I owe my career to them,” he said matter-of-factly.

That career included leadership positions with the Ohio Department of Transportation, where he was a district planning engineer and one of ODOT’s first computer programmers. He retired from ODOT in 1995.

In October of 2022, he lost Gail, his wife of 68 years, whom he met on a blind date his junior year at Case. His eyes mist to talk about her. The next year, Lyndes endowed his scholarship, in time to see the impact of his giving.

“I’ve always been interested in the outdoors, growing up on a farm,” he said. He thinks the world needs environmental engineers to tackle the challenges of global warming and a changing planet.

Dick passed away in May 2025.