In memoriam: David C. Amidon, Lehigh urban legend

David C. Amidon, who introduced thousands of students to the history of America’s cities and its ethnic groups during his 42-year tenure on the Lehigh faculty, died Sept. 23 at his home in Bethlehem. He was 81.

Amidon, a professor in the department of political science, was the director and sole faculty member in Lehigh’s Urban Studies Program. He was well-known for teaching courses like “Americans from Italy” and “American Jews: Politics and Culture,” for leading field trips to Philadelphia’s ethnic neighborhoods, and for the interest he took in his students’ backgrounds and their families.

The office that Amidon kept in an out-of-the-way corner of Chandler-Ullmann overflowed with books and often with students who came to arrange files or to ask advice on school, career and life.

The bulletin boards outside the office were filled with photographs of former students and their families, with the names of alumni, spouses and children noted in Amidon’s handwriting.

Amidon joined the Lehigh faculty in 1965, taking a position in the history department. He taught four courses a semester, assigned ambitious reading lists and regaled students with anecdotes from the lives of people like industrialist Andrew Carnegie and urban planner Robert Moses.

In 1977, Amidon received Lehigh’s Stabler Award for excellence in teaching. In 1983, the 10-year alumni class honored him with the university’s first W. Deming Lewis Award.

In 2007, 150 former and current students threw Amidon a farewell dinner party in Lamberton Hall. Students from all five decades of his Lehigh tenure—the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s—returned to campus to remember his dedication, to marvel at his breadth of knowledge and to roast him for his quirks. With help from the Lehigh University Alumni Association, the self-described “Amidonians” raised $100,000 to endow a Lehigh scholarship in Amidon’s name.

Several alumni who attended the party said they had first met Amidon when they filled out a mandatory survey required for class or for a work-study job. Amidon seldom missed a detail in a form, they said, and he delighted in connecting the spelling of a last name with a country of origin, a region of a country, a pattern of migration, or a thread of urban history.

“Before our first class, Dave handed out a questionnaire asking us where we were from, a little bit about our family background,” said Jarred McBride ’05. “Of all my professors, Dave was the only one who actually read every single one of those forms. If he saw something interesting, he made a point of asking you about it. He got to know you, inside and outside the classroom.”

“Dave Amidon,” said Michael Smerconish ’84, “could tell you more than you yourself knew about your hometown, even your own family history.”

Several dozen Amidonians pooled their talents to produce a film about Amidon’s life and times. The DVD was written by Don Miles ’71 and narrated by Smerconish.

“Classes with Dave Amidon often began late,” said the film, “as Dave was held up in his office next door talking to a student or two. But they took off fast. When the bell sounded, Dave, having provoked discussion and dialogue, was not one to rush out of the classroom, and instead often lingered with a small group of students wanting to continue the debate.”

Amidon earned his bachelor’s degree from Juniata College and his master’s from Penn State before teaching at the university’s Hazelton campus.

He is survived by his wife, Ann, and by four children and nine grandchildren.

At his farewell party, he marveled that all of his grandchildren lived within a 10-minute drive from his house.

“When I first came to Lehigh,” he said, “I didn’t think of family as being so important. I rejoice now that I’ve lived long enough to find out otherwise.

“I give my wife credit for that...My family and my students have given me so much more than I could ever hope to thank you for.”

A memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1, at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem.