Civil engineering legend Lynn S. Beedle had a passion for tall buildings. He inspired generations of students in his six decades at Lehigh and brought together engineers, social scientists and architects from around the world to create more livable cities.

Beedle, who earned a master’s in 1949 and a doctorate in 1952 from Lehigh, was a tireless champion of skyscrapers as aesthetically pleasing residential centers and as viable alternatives to urban sprawl. He was perhaps best known as founder and director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an international organization headquartered at Lehigh until it moved to Chicago in 2003.

During the 1950s, Beedle introduced modern design concepts to the construction of steel buildings. He served as director of the Fritz Laboratory from 1960 to 1984 and wrote two widely used books, Plastic Design of Steel Frames and Structural Steel Design.