Lynch, Michael R. (Michael Richard), 1917-1983

Born in 1917, Michael Lynch was an associate professor of agriculture at Penn State from 1960-1980. He graduated with his B.S. and master's from Penn State in 1945 and began working for the University Cooperative Service Extension the same year. He was active in the Lion's Paw Alumni Association and the Mount Nittany Conservancy, a non-profit organization that began in 1981. Lynch received the Lion's Paw Medal in 1980 for his "notable service to the university" and also received the 1977 McKay Donkin Award for his contributions to the "economic, physical, mental, or social welfare of the university faculty." While at the University, he served as the faculty advisor to Zeta Psi national social fraternity for ten years and six years as a faculty representative on the board of directors for La Vie. In 1961, Lynch took a leave of absence from the university to serve as extensions advisor with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was the U.S. State Department's Agricultural Mission to Israel. He also spent three months in India as an extension consultant in a Penn State project at Mahatma Phule University. From 1965-1970 he was the project director of the summer Neighborhood Youth Corps, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, to provide summer jobs for disadvantaged youth. He married Mildred Tombler and had three children with her; two daughters, Martha and Melanie Lynch, and one son, Mark Lynch. Michael Lynch died in 1983 at the age of 66.

Coordinator in the Cooperative Extension Service, Lynch was active in Lion's Paw Alumni Association and was a founder of Mount Nittany Conservancy. Lynch's slide show, "For the Glory of Old State," presented Penn State traditions through historic photos and music and was seen by more than 600 alumni,student, and community groups.

Michael R. Lynch graduated from Penn State in 1945.