Penn State University To Honor Dick Lippin

Pennsylvania State University’s Liberal Arts Alumni Society is honoring Richard B. (Dick) Lippin, chairman, chief executive and founder of The Lippin Group, with the 2013 Service to Society Award. Lippin will receive the award during a ceremony on March 21 at the College of Liberal Arts.

The Service to Society Award, the university said, “is presented to a liberal arts alumnus whose contributions have served to enhance the quality of life at the local, state, national or international level. Their contribution to society should be humanistic, have social goals consistent with the liberal arts tradition, and be outside the academic community or beyond the person’s professional or vocational achievement.”

Beyond professional ventures, Lippin established the Ronnie Lippin Cancer Information and Resource Line after his wife, Ronnie, died of a rare form of breast cancer seven years ago. Subsequently, the program has expanded to provide counseling services to individuals and families in need of guidance on cancer related matters.

Additionally, Lippin has established three programs in Ronnie’s name, The Ronnie Lippin Cancer Research Fellowships, The Ronnie Lippin Cancer Outreach Program at Tower Cancer Research Foundation and The Ronnie Lippin Counseling Centers to continue to assist patients and their families.

Penn State said Lippin is also being honored for his leadership in ethics. In 1993, he endowed the University with the Richard B. Lippin Lectureship in Ethics, which focuses on current ethical issues in the fields of business, medicine, science and technology, as well as questions of justice.

He also serves on the board of advisors of the Rock Ethics Institute, a program that promotes ethical awareness and inquiry across the university, and in the public and professional sectors, through a three-fold emphasis on teaching, research and outreach at the university.

Lippin is also in the process of expanding his relationship with Penn State through a value-based program for young children.