Professor Emeritus Bruce M. Bayer, a former Mechanical Engineering department chair whose energy and commitment to Vanderbilt students have not waned with his retirement.

Professor Emeritus Bruce M. Bayer, BE'35, MS'52, proudly acknowledges his long love for the School of Engineering, having spent much of his life there as a student, teacher and chair of mechanical engineering. Recently, he extended this deep relationship by establishing the Nancy and Bruce M. Bayer Honor Scholarship. Named in part for his late wife, it stands as one of the School's very few full-tuition honor awards.
       About the scholarship, Bayer says, "I think it's going to be useful and used for a good purpose. I wasn't looking for all the kudos and pats on the back."
       Born and raised in Nashville, Bayer entered Vanderbilt in 1931. He applied himself, eventually graduating summa cum laude, and met his future wife during his senior year. Classmate Bruce Henderson, BE'37, generously but unwittingly facilitated their first meeting by escorting the pretty Peabody College senior to a fraternity dance. Bayer spied the young woman from across the room and asked around, "Who is that nice gal?"
       The couple married in 1936 and moved to Endicott, N.Y., where Bayer had accepted a job with IBM. He worked in production and construction during much of the next decade, helping to design new buildings for the New York IBM complex.
       During one vacation trip back to Nashville, Bayer happened by the office of Professor J. E. Boynton, then the head of mechanical engineering. "I made some remark about how teaching seemed like a nice life and how I might like to do that after gaining experience at IBM." Shortly after World War II, from which Bayer had been spared because of his growing family, a letter from Vanderbilt arrived in the mail. "They needed somebody, and Nancy opened it before I came home," Bayer smiles, remembering how the decision to return to Nashville had been made before he reached the front door, "I didn't have a chance."
       The family left New York and 50-60 inches of snow for the relative tropics of Middle Tennessee. Bayer entered the classroom fairly comfortably, having taught night classes for IBM, and found that he was not much older than many of his war veteran students.
       Bayer earned a master's degree in physics while teaching full time. His colleagues elected him department chair in the mid 1960s, and Bayer finally retired in 1974. As closely as he tries to follow the work of the School, he doesn't make it back to campus too often, explaining that he doesn't want "to interfere."
       Looking back, Bayer says modestly, "I wasn't an outstanding teacher or anything like that. But I might have helped the boys in growing up a little."
       Apparently so. Students still call out of the blue to check on him, and one of his fondest memories is of seeing former student Wallace Lee, BE'53, at a reunion. Bayer smiles, "Wallace claimed he had just come back to see me. The Lee Co. had just built a new facility, and he insisted that I come out to tour it. So I went, and he said to everybody, 'This is Mr. Bayer, my teacher. I wouldn't have made it out of school if it weren't for him.' I knew it wasn't true, but it still was nice to hear."
       Professor Robert Lott, hired at Vanderbilt by Bayer, sums things up simply. "My first impression of Professor Bayer was that he was a gentleman in every sense of the word. That observation has not changed in the many years that I have known Bruce as my chairman, mentor, colleague and friend."
       Since the death of the wonderful Nancy, Bayer stays busy communicating with his two children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren via e-mail and keeping close tabs on the Commodore basketball team. Always a Renaissance man-with histories of gardening, building furniture and clocks-he has taken up painting. The still-life scenes, portraits and landscapes lie scattered throughout his home.
       The Nancy and Bruce M. Bayer Honor Scholarship will be awarded for the first time this year to an incoming freshman, probably someone who would not have attended Vanderbilt otherwise. The Bayer Scholarship will be a critical tool in the work of the School's administration. And Professor Bayer is looking forward to building a friendship with yet another young Vanderbilt engineer.

Alumni interested in getting in touch with Professor Bayer should contact the School of Engineering's Alumni and Development office at 615-322-4934 or email Associate Director Linda Carter at linda.l.carter@vanderbilt.edu.