Following his graduation from Engineering Science in 1957, Dr. Rodger L. Fritz joined the Electrical Engineering department at Penn State as a full time instructor and later as an Assistant Professor. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1964, and he joined IBM Federal Systems in Owego, NY, in 1965 with the objective of getting three years of industrial engineering experience. After thirty-five years in Owego, he retired from IBM and from Lockheed Martin. In Owego, Dr. Fritz was a Senior Technical Staff Member and manager of an Advanced Technology group. He was a Ph.D. recruiter for the IBM Corporation and served as an IPAC representative to the EE department at Penn State. Dr. Fritz received the Lockheed Martin Nova Award for his part in achieving an SEI CMM Level 5 rating for the Owego site. As an undergraduate classmate of Richard McNitt, Dr. Fritz’s biggest contribution to the ESM department was setting the bar in each class for Dr. McNitt to exceed.

Dr. Fritz and his wife Daisyanna raised three children; and in 2005, they celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in St. Maarten with family and friends. Dr. Fritz has been a Church Moderator of a Baptist Church in Owego for over 35 years. In 2002, he received the Tioga County Outstanding Citizen Award from the Baden Powell Council of the Boy Scouts for his volunteer work in the community. He currently leads a co-ed Scout Engineering Explorer Post sponsored by Lockheed Martin. In retirement, Dr. and Mrs. Fritz enjoy traveling and have cruised the Yangtze, Nile, and Amazon rivers.

NOTE: Two of our Centennial Fellows are spotlighted each week.