Lyle E. Wimmergren, professor emeritus of management at WPI, died Tuesday, April 15, 2008, after a brief illness. He retired in 1994, having taught at WPI for 25 years.
Before joining the WPI faculty, he served as an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and at New England College in New Hampshire. His extensive management career included work as a financial planning supervisor at Sylvania Electric, supervisor of dealer financing at Ford Motor Company, assistant credit manager at Guaranty Bank, and management trainee for the Rock Island Railroad. He served in the Korean Conflict with the U.S. Army. He earned a BS from Northwestern University in 1953 and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1957.
Wimmergren spent a sabbatical year in 1993 working at the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development in Mesa, Ariz. For the past 12 years, he and his wife, Marilyn, had worked as Volunteer National Rangers through the Volunteers in Parks Program of the National Parks Service. He enjoyed teaching Southwest history and culture to park visitors, most recently at Tumacacori National Historic Park in Tumacacori, Ariz.
He was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma and Delta Sigma Rho professional management societies, Phi Beta Kappa, Acacia Fraternity, the Worcester Torch Club, and the First Congregational Church of Paxton. He was a 32nd Degree Mason, including the Scottish Rite Bodies, and the Moses Webster Lodge 145 in Vinalhaven, Maine.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 18, in the First Congregational Church of Paxton. Donations may be made to the First Congregational Church of Paxton, 1 Church St., Paxton, MA 01612; or the Humane Society of Knox County, P.O. Box 1294, Rockland, ME 04841. Miles Funeral Home, 1158 Main St., Holden, is directing arrangements.
