Professor honored for quality of teaching
10/8/2009BOWLING GREEN — David V. Gedeon, 70, a retired Bowling Green State University technology professor who was honored for his teaching and his dedication to family, died Monday in Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center.
He was cutting a tree limb in his front yard that morning when a branch knocked him off a ladder, his son Mark said.
Mr. Gedeon entered BGSU as a freshman and retired as a professor. He taught electronics from 1964 to 2007.
He helped develop the electronic technology undergraduate program and a master's program in industrial technology.
“He was probably one of the most appreciated faculty members,” said Barry Piersol, assistant to the dean in BGSU's college of technology. “He was a very talented man and was very respected by all. He was always available for students and [had] a great work ethic.”
Jerry Streichler, a former dean of the college of technology, said: “I had the pleasure of promoting him.
“He was an absolutely true professional, someone who cared about his students, about his research, and cared about his organization and the people with whom he was working,” Mr. Streichler said. “He was a true mensch — a person of integrity and honor.”
Mr. Gedeon twice received the faculty excellence award, in 1981 and 1987, from BGSU's Undergraduate Student Government. The National Association of Industrial Technology gave him its 1990 outstanding professor of industrial technology award. He was named an educator of the year by the national honorary Epsilon Pi Tau.
He made presentations to national and regional conferences in his field.
Yet for him, “it was always a people profession,” said his son Mark, who teaches math and coaches basketball at Fremont Ross High School. “My dad never went to work. My dad went to school to teach.”
He knew how to balance profession and family, said Anthony Palumbo, a retired colleague who was a BGSU junior when he met Mr. Gedeon, then a graduate student.
Mr. Gedeon and his wife, Sheryl, had seven children of their own, but were foster parents to many others. In 1990, the Gedeons were named Bowling Green family of the year for their community service.
“The Gedeons are plain good people,” Mr. Palumbo said. “This is a real American family.”
Mr. Gedeon volunteered for an Indian reservation in North Dakota. He volunteered for a soup kitchen in East Toledo and Habitat for Humanity.
“He was always such a caring man for others, almost like a peacemaker,” his son said. “He wanted people to find their own peace. He was never the type of person who looked to be in the forefront. He wanted to make sure he was doing things the right way and was a person of tremendous faith.”
Mr. Gedeon was born Sept. 8, 1939. He was a graduate of North Royalton High School. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from BGSU and a doctorate from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Surviving are his wife, Sheryl, whom he married in June, 1967; sons, Mark, Topher, and Matthew Gedeon; daughters, Samantha Bibard, Amanda Dorman, and Hannah Lombardi; brother, Wayne Gedeon, and nine grandchildren.
The body will be in the Dunn Funeral Home, Bowling Green, after 2 p.m. today, with a Scripture service at 8 tonight in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Thomas More University Parish, of which he was a member.
The family suggests tributes to the Gedeon Memorial Scholarship Fund at the BGSU office of development.