Tennis was a passion for former Temple President Marvin Wachman. A one-time, second-seeded junior singles player in the Midwest, he played tennis matches with Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs, ’30s tennis star Alice Marble and film star Errol Flynn.
Wachman, 90, the sixth president of Temple who served from 1973 through 1982, died of a heart condition Dec. 23 in his Chestnut Hill home.
President Ann Weaver Hart and Board of Trustees Chairman Daniel H. Polett released a note announcing Wachman’s passing.
“We were privileged by his service and leadership at Temple for the past four decades and recognize his passing as a profound loss to the university community,” the note said. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Milwaukee native became president at Lincoln University, a historically black college, in 1961. He moved to Temple in 1969 as the vice president for academic affairs, before being inaugurated as Temple’s president in 1973.
His tenure saw Temple expanding locally and internationally with the opening of campuses in Center City and Japan.
Temple renamed its Center City building, then located at 1619 Walnut St., Wachman Hall in October 1984. After the sale of that building, the Board of Trustees approved the renaming of the Computer Activity Building at 1805 N. Broad St. on Main Campus after the former president.
Wachman’s legacy lives on in four scholarship funds for both faculty and students at Temple that he and his wife, Adeline, created between 1982 and 2007.
He also gave a $1 million gift to Temple’s history department for the funding of its Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, an organization dedicated to the revitalization of diplomatic and military history. The donation helps CENFAD, established in 1993, maintain a leading role in the movement.
“We know that the entire Temple community joins us in mourning this tremendous loss and extending their condolences to [the] Wachman family and the many friends whose lives he has touched,” Hart’s statement read.
Chris Stover can be reached at stover@temple.edu.
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