News Release
May 1999
Moravian College will bestow honorary degrees on two distinguished
members of the Lehigh Valley business community at its commencement
ceremonies on Saturday, May 15, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Honorary doctorates
will be awarded to Charles J. Peischl, chair of the Moravian College
Board of Trustees, and to H. A. Wagner, chairman of the board, and president
and CEO of Air Products, Inc.
At the graduation ceremonies in the outdoor quadrangle
behind the Haupert Union Building, the College will grant degrees to
approximately 306 bachelor’s degree candidates and 24 MBA candidates.
In case of rain, the program will be held in Johnston Hall. The ceremony
will conclude the 257th academic year at Moravian, America’s sixth-oldest
college.
Charles J. Peischl will receive an honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws from Moravian College, which will be presented to him
by Priscilla Payne Hurd, vice chair, Moravian College Board of Trustees.
Peischl has served as a member of the Moravian College Board of Trustees
since 1983 and as chairman of the Board since October 1992. He is a
partner in the law firm of Peters, Moritz, Peischl, Zulick & Landes
located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Peischl received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton
University in 1966 and then went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from
the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Peischl is a member of the
American, Pennsylvania, and Northampton County Bar Associations. His
practice emphasis is estate planning, estate and trust administration,
and business law.
H.A. Wagner will receive an honorary degree of Doctor
of Laws from Moravian College, which will be presented to him by Harry
G. Dimopoulos, treasurer, Moravian College Board of Trustees.
Wagner received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical
engineering from Stanford University in 1958, and an MBA from Harvard
University in 1963. He joined Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in 1963
in the company’s applied research and development department.
He rose through the ranks becoming president of Air Products Europe
in 1988. Wagner was named executive vice president of world gases and
equipment in 1990. In January 1991, Wagner was elected to Air Product’s
Board, and later that year became president and chief operating officer.
He assumed his current position of chairman of the Board, president
and chief executive officer in 1992. Wagner also serves on the board
of directors of CIGNA Corporation, United Technologies Corporation,
and Daido-Hoxan—Japan’s second largest industrial gas company.
In keeping with a longstanding Moravian College tradition, the graduating
class recently elected a faculty member and a student to speak at the
commencement ceremony. Carole K. Brown, associate professor of English,
will give the "Statement to the Graduates". Gonzalo Luciano
Garcia-Pedroso, class of 1999, will deliver the "Statement of the
Bachelor’s Graduates." Wendy L. Esch, class of 1999, was
selected by the M.B.A program to deliver the "Statement of the
Master’s Graduates."
A baccalaureate service will be held on Friday, May 14,
at 5:30 p.m. in Central Moravian Church. Fr. Daniel G. Gambet, o.s.f.s.,
president of Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, will be the
Moravian College baccalaureate speaker. His address will be entitled
"They Shall Know There Has Been a Prophet among Them." Father
Gambet is retiring this year as president of Allentown College of St.
Francis de Sales, where he has worked since he became the first academic
dean there in 1965.
