Erling N. JENSEN, Ph.D.

JENSEN, MCILHENNY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/10/2013 at 20:22:03

September 3, 1908 ---- October 29, 1987

DR. ERLING N. JENSEN DIES IN IOWA
MUHLENBERG'S 7TH PRESIDENT WAS 78

The seventh president of Muhlenberg College, Dr. Erling N. Jensen, died Thursday in Ames, Iowa. He was the husband of Ruth (McIlhenny) Jensen. He was 78. Jensen, who served as the head of Muhlenberg from 1961 to 1968, is credited with setting Muhlenberg on its course to national academic distinction, as evidenced by the establishment of a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most distinguished honor society.

An active and influential layman in the Lutheran Church, Jensen also helped strengthen the college's ties with the church. At his retirement, Jensen said he was most proud of two main objectives he accomplished during his eight-year tenure. The first was an enriched and improved academic program and the second was a significant relationship with the church. He served on the physics faculty of Iowa State University for 18 years and was senior physicist at the Ames, Iowa, laboratory of the Atomic Energy Commission before coming to Muhlenberg. After retiring from Muhlenberg, he returned to the faculty of Iowa State until 1973.

He was a professor of science at Grand View College, Des Moines, 1935-43, and taught science and was principal of Goldfield (Iowa) High School, 1934-35.

Born in Des Moines, he was a graduate of Drake University, Des Moines, and earned a master's degree from Columbia University, New York City, in 1933, and a doctoral degree in physics from Iowa State University in 1947.

Jensen was president of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church 1943-62. In the early 1960s, he was chairman of the Committee on Colleges of the Joint Commission on Lutheran Unity, and played an important role in planning the merger of four national Lutheran churches into the Lutheran Church in America. He also was president of the Lutheran Education Conference of North America in 1968. Jensen was active in politics during his Allentown years. A member of the Allentown Charter Commission in 1967, he was instrumental in the reorganization of the city's government into the current strong mayor/council form, and in 1968, he was suggested as a possible mayoral candidate. He did not run. Also in 1967, Jensen served as chairman of a three-man board of arbitrators formed to study how the city firemen's work-week could be shortened. Their week was cut from an average of 56 to 48 hours, and in 1969, Jensen was honored by the group for his role in the reduction.

In 1969 he was awarded the Allentown-Lehigh County Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award. An avid tennis player, Jensen was one of the top-ranked players on the national seniors tennis circuit. In his honor, the annual Memorial Day seniors tournament at the Ames Tennis Club is named after him, The Erling Jensen Esq. Open Tennis Tournament.

Surviving with his widow are four sons, David, Edward, Carl and Richard. Memorial services will be announced.

Morning Call -- Allentown, Pennsylvania
October 31, 1987