A Lifetime of Lehigh
Ask Bob Gill '53 '75P '88P '09GP and Arthur Tauck Jr. ’53 ’79P how they first met, and they go back to the beginning of their friendship — all the way back to kindergarten in South Orange, New Jersey.
“We kind of grew up in each other’s backyard, right?” says Tauck, remembering how Gill’s mother used to invite him in. “... We had more lunches in your house than we ever had in my house, and we just became friends. We did all kinds of things together.”
Gill picks up where Tauck leaves off. “We did junior high school, grammar school. We both were in the Essex troop, and we would ride horses every weekend … and then we also worked together. Remember painting houses? We painted my house one summer. So we worked together and we played together, and then of course we went onto high school together and then we met Herb.”
That would be Herb Roemmele ’53, the third in the trio that made it back to Lehigh for their 70th Reunion in June 2023. Their memories, captured as part of Lehigh’s Alumni Oral History program, are part of Lehigh’s Special Collections. Their story, and more than 100 others, are now available online.
The Road to Lehigh
Roemmele first connected with Tauck and Gill at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, which at the time sent a significant number of students on to Lehigh. “In the year that we graduated, 12 people came to Lehigh and graduated from Lehigh,” he recalls.
Gill came to Lehigh by way of Rutgers, where he had enrolled in the agriculture program to become a farmer. When an injury interrupted his ambitions, he sought out Lehigh’s business program.
Lehigh was Tauck’s first choice, and he tagged along for an interview with all-state basketball player Dick Witzig ’53. While the dean of admissions worked to sell Witzig on Lehigh, he discouraged Tauck. “He said, ‘I’d suggest you take Lehigh off as your number one and put your state school on because you don’t stand a chance to get in here.’ And then all of a sudden, I got accepted. When that letter came, I couldn’t believe it.”
Later, Tauck asked the dean about the change of heart and learned it was because of his high school’s credentials. “‘We have had such a good record from people coming from Columbia High School that we took a chance on you,’ he said. And that’s why we’re sitting here today.”
Campus Life
Despite growing up together, Gill and Tauck moved in different social circles at Lehigh. But Roemmele and Tauck stayed connected. “I got close to Art because of the fact he had a car,” says Roemmele. “How he had a car here as a freshman, I’ll never know, because they were not permitted to have cars. I was smart enough to always know to hook up with him so I had my rides back and forth from Lehigh to Maplewood … and we went back and forth for all the holidays.”
The three reminisce about friends and faculty. “One of my favorite courses was Advanced Economic Theory and a guy named Froggy Peters –— Froggy, because he had a gravelly throat — taught that,” says Tauck. “... I just used to love to listen to that guy weave the story of economics and how one thing relates to another. It was great.”
Roemmele was in ROTC and delivered food to campus for the “Eats Man” to help pay tuition. “We had a truck, and we went around to the dormitories from around 7 to 9 o'clock at night in fraternities,” he says. “I would yell out ‘Eats Man!’ … and people would come down and buy food. It was a Lehigh man and his wife … He was going to school here, and they made these sandwiches, and we had ice cream and milk, etc. So those are the two ways in which I brought in extra money.”
All three alumni got involved in Greek life and served as president of their organization: Roemmele in Sigma Nu, Tauck in Delta Nu, and Gill in Chi Phi. Gill says the experience gave him the tools for a successful career. “I think most important to me was managing the house and the discipline that had to be built out on occasion and, as in your case, Art, I think it helped both of us grow up and be managers.”
After Graduation
When Gill graduated, he chose a job as a trainee at JCPenney over higher-paying positions at other companies. The dean at the time took issue with his choice. “He said, ‘What in the world do you want to go to JCPenney for?’” says Gill. “And I said, ‘You know, Dean, it's not where you start. It's where you end up. I'm the lowest-paid guy in the graduating class. When I come back for my 25th reunion, I will not be the lowest guy in the graduating class. And I don't think I was.”
Gill, in fact, ended up working at JCPenney for 42 years before retiring as vice chairman and chief operating officer.
Tauck proclaims himself a lousy manager. “I never would have been able to work for [Bob]. He would have gotten rid of me in a hurry. But I really managed more by walking around and managed by example. But I just love to do things different than the way they had been done.”
Tauck went on to run one of the highest-rated international travel companies in the nation. His father had founded the company and brought it through the Depression and World War II before turning it over to Tauck. “I always believed if you take care of people, they're going to take care of you,” he says. “We worked very hard to do that and came out as a successful company.”
After Lehigh, Roemmele worked at AT&T and Chase Bank before being called into service in Korea. After his return, he made his way to Merrill Lynch before becoming a broker for more than 60 years. He retired at age 85.
The friends have left their mark on Lehigh, each in his own way. Roemmele supported the renovation of Williams Hall; his philanthropy is recognized in the naming of the Roemmele Global Commons. Gill, who has two children and two grandchildren who are Lehigh graduates, created an endowed scholarship and has met routinely with student recipients through the years. Tauck is also the parent of a Lehigh graduate. He has supported Lehigh Business and endowed an international internship program with an annual cohort of 12 undergraduates working abroad.
Reunion Reconnections
Tauck and Gill hadn’t been in touch for 40 years when they reconnected at a Reunion event honoring Gill as an Alumni Award winner. “I was late and I walked up the stairs and, one thing about age, I don’t think voices change and I could hear your voice inside,” he tells Gill. “... I couldn’t find him [at first] because our faces changed, our bodies changed … Finally we got together, and it was the same Bob, only a little bit different facade.”
Since then, they follow Lehigh men’s lacrosse together and check in regularly by phone. “Bob and I could sit probably all day and talk about the past and talk about our parents and talk about our friends from the old high school days,” says Tauck.
The three are grateful for their connections to each other and Lehigh. Says Roemmele, “I think I’m very fortunate that I grew up in Maplewood and had the opportunity to know not only these two, but the other individuals that came from Columbia High School to Lehigh, and that Lehigh has made me a whole different individual. So I’m very, very blessed.”
Editor’s note: Bob Gill passed away in December 2024 at the age of 93. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to capture his Lehigh story.
