Richard W. "Dick" Barsness, 90, of Bethlehem, Professor Emeritus of Management and Dean Emeritus of the College of Business at Lehigh University, died Friday, May 16, 2025, in Moravian Village, Bethlehem. Born in Elbow Lake, Minnesota on April 26, 1935, Dick was the son of the late Russel E. and Joanna (Warga) Barsness. He was preceded in death by his older brother Bruce who died in 1951.

Valedictorian of his Eau Claire Memorial High School (WI) Class of 1954, Dick attended the University of Minnesota where he was Phi Beta Kappa, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1957. At Minnesota he additionally earned a Master of Arts in History (1958) a Master of Public Administration (1960) and a Ph.D. in American Economic History (1963).

Dick began his professional career in 1960 in Washington, D.C. as a budget analyst for the Office of Management & Budget, U.S. Executive Office of the President. After completing his doctoral thesis research on the Port of Los Angeles, he was then hired by Northwestern University, Evanston, IL as an Instructor and then Assistant Professor of Business History from 1962-69. It was in Evanston where Dick met his wife of 60 years, Dotty Gother, a high school biology teacher. From 1969 until 1978 Dick served as Associate Professor of Policy and Environment at Northwestern and from 1972 until 1978 as Associate Dean of Northwestern's Graduate School of Management. In 1978 Dick and Dotty brought their family to Bethlehem, PA when Dick accepted an offer to serve as Dean and Professor of Management for Lehigh University's College of Business and Economics. It was during his tenure that Lehigh built and opened the Rauch Center for Business and launched a number of focused centers of study within the business school including the Iacocca Institute for International Competitiveness.

After 14 years as Dean, Dick returned to full time faculty service in 1992 in the Department of Management where his teaching and research interests included the social, political and ethical environment of business and the international business field. An authority on the transportation industry, he was often called upon by media outlets as an aviation industry expert. He loved to travel and teach internationally and served as Visiting Professor of Management for the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand in 1983, 1988 and 1992 and as Professor of Management for the Lehigh in Prague program from 2000 – 2015 which he continued to contribute to well after his 2004 retirement.

Throughout his career Dick held positions with a number of professional organizations, including The Lexington Group in Transportation History (Executive Secretary), the Business History Conference (President and Trustee), The Governor's Advisory Council, State of Illinois; the Academy of International Business, the International Association for Business and Society, and the Academy of Management. He was the 1991 recipient of the R.R. and E.C. Hillman Faculty Award in recognition of excellence in teaching and advancing the interests of Lehigh University and named a Distinguished Professor of Management in 1995. In 2019 he was presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who in the World.

Dick was an active member at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity (Episcopal), serving as a greeter and usher, vestry member, chair of the personnel committee, chair of the Third Millennium Fund and as a board member for Episcopal House, Allentown. He loved history (especially World War II history), travel, classical music and was a train enthusiast from his childhood throughout adulthood.

In addition to his wife Dorothea (Dotty), survivors include children Karen Boksan (Ed) of Bethlehem and Erik Barsness of Gaithersburg, MD and four grandchildren- Jana Wolfman (Justin), Chloe, Claire and Peter Barsness.

A celebration of Dick's life will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 10:00 am in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Visitation will begin at 9:15 am in the church. Pearson Funeral Home, 1901 Linden Street, Bethlehem, PA 18017 is handling arrangements.  pearsonfh.com

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Lehigh University, College of Business, 306 S. New Street, Suite 500, Bethlehem, PA 18015 or to the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015.