Diamond, Theodore

From Lehigh Engineering Heritage Initiative

**Theodore Diamond**
Ted Diamond, alumnus
Birth:	August 4, 1916
Birthplace:	Brooklyn, NY
Degree:	B.A. chemistry and metallurgy
Graduation:	1937
Notable Achievement:	Leader in zinc industry

1985 - Receives an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lehigh for his work in the international metal trading industry

In 1937, Theodore Lawrence Diamond received a bachelor of arts degree from Lehigh University in chemistry and metallurgy. Two years later, he received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Lehigh in 1985. As an undergraduate of Lehigh, Diamond was president of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He has been an Asa Packer Society member since its inception in 1967 and a president of the Lehigh Club of New York. He received a distinguished Alumni Award from the Alumni Association in 1977 at the 40th Lehigh Reunion of the Class of 1937.

From 1941 to 1946, Diamond served in the United States Navy, rising from ensign to lieutenant senior grade and executive officer of his station. After working in a family metal trading business, he founded T. L. Diamond & Company, Inc. He was owner and chief executive officer of the international, non-ferrous metal trading firm that also specialized in precious metals, headquartered in New York City. Diamond married Claire Winston in 1946, and they have a son and a daughter.

In 1970 Diamond acquired a zinc smelter in Clarksburg, West Virginia, from the bankrupt Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company, manufacturing zinc metallic powder at that location for 33 years. In 1984 Diamond acquired the Eagle Picher Zinc smelter at Hillsboro, Illinois, where zinc oxide pigments were produced for the major paint manufacturers for about 20 years.

At Lehigh, he has funded the Theodore L. Diamond Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, part of the College of Business and Economics. Diamond Center programs include the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Global Entrepreneurship, the Summer Entrepreneurship Adventure, and the Pennsylvania Business Plan Competition. In 1986 he established the Theodore L. Diamond Professorship in biotechnology.

Diamond is also an avid supporter of the arts at Lehigh, as observed by his endowing of the Diamond Theatre in Zoellner Arts Center. His generosity continues through the Claire and Theodore Diamond Theater Endowment Fund.