DICK BEUMER

 “AWARD OF EXCELLENCE”

Richard Beumer’s main interests at Lutheran North were baseball, mathematics, science and basketball.  He was also involved in leadership activities such as VP of the Student Council.  He played and lettered in baseball and basketball all four years of high school.  He continued his leadership experiences at Valparaiso University where he was involved in many campus organizations.

His real love was being a pitcher.  In 1954 the Crusader baseball team played Cape Girardeau Central for the state championship  when there were no divisions based on enrollment) at Sportsman Park.  Richard was the winning pitcher in the semifinal game and pitched in the championship game, a 5-4 loss in the last inning.

He attended Valparaiso University on a baseball scholarship and played on Valpo’s first team to go to a NCAA Tournament.  The highlight of that tournament was pitching a 2-0 shutout against Notre Dame.  He had two professional offers but didn’t sign.  He graduated with a BSEE degree from Valpo and did graduate work in Engineering Management at the University Missouri Rolla.

Upon graduating for Valparaiso in 1959, the space age was just beginning and Richard took advantage of the many opportunities available in this exciting new era of space explorations.  He began his career at Sverdrup Engineering as an electrical engineer, progressed through the ranks, led a number of major projects throughout the world, and became chairman/president of Sverdrup Corp. He led the merger of Sverdrup and Jacobs Engineering in 1999 and served as vice-president until he retired in 2003. Today, Jacobs has over 70,000 employees worldwide.

He and his wife Judy have been married for 58 years and have three children and six grandchildren. He has remained active in the church serving as chairman and member of many Lutheran not-for-profit organizations.