Fostering Tradition and Community

Robert H. Littner ’53 ’83P ’84PG ’08PG ’13GP ’18GP, a highly-respected lawyer and generous Lehigh benefactor, passed away on June 10, 2018. Growing up within walking distance of Bethlehem, Littner built countless professional and personal relationships through his love of Lehigh and his respected law firm, Littner, Deschler & Littner, that he founded more than 60 years ago.

“Bob was devoted to his family, devoted to his clients’ well-being, devoted to the numerous charitable organizations that were important to him in the community, and devoted to Lehigh,” said Lorraine Wiedorn, assistant vice president, planned giving.

As a Lehigh undergraduate, Littner majored in biology and was given the nickname “Doc” for his original intent of becoming a doctor. His student activities included being president of Lehigh’s chapter of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. After realizing that his passion instead was in law, he changed his academic trajectory and obtained his juris doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1956. In 1957, he was admitted to the Northampton County Bar Association and, throughout his career, was admitted to the bars of the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Littner’s involvement in Lehigh’s alumni community was front and center. He was class vice president of the Lehigh University Alumni Association for 50 years before becoming president in 2003. In addition to being a phonathon volunteer and planned giving chairman, he carried his class flag for Rally for decades. He also served as an alumni advisor to Alpha Chi Rho.

Among the Lehigh activities that he was well-known for, the Lehigh-Lafayette football tailgate parties that he hosted with his wife, Jean, for more than 30 years were described as legendary. Their tailgates became so popular that even Lafayette alumni wanted to join in on the fun. Littner attended the Rivalry game more than 65 times and would invite a large group back to their home afterwards to continue the festivities, fostering a sense of tradition and community.

“Those tailgates were a gathering of friends that were part of the extended Littner family and a source of great enjoyment and fun for Bob and Jean,” said Wiedorn, who recalls assisting Littner in purchasing extra Lehigh-Lafayette tickets so he could provide a ticket to any tailgate guest who wanted to go to the game.

The Littners gave back to several Lehigh initiatives and endowed the Robert H. Littner ’53 Family Scholarship to provide opportunities for others to have access to a Lehigh education. For his continual commitment to Lehigh, Littner received the university’s top awards: the Alumni Award, the James Ward Packard Award and the Eugene G. Grace 1899 Award.

“If we didn’t have the education we had, we wouldn’t be able to put some funds aside for people in the future,” said Littner in a 2017 interview conducted for the Bulletin. “[My career] has rewarded me for these years, and therefore, we reward someone else that can use some of the funds.”

Littner was proud of his three-generation Lehigh family that included daughter Wendy Thomson ’83 ’84G ’08G, her husband Dave Thomson ’83 ’84G, and granddaughters Sarah Thomson ’13 and Abigail Thomson ’18.

Story by: Austin Katz ’19