Dr. Roland Lehr, longtime member and chapter secretary of the Alpha of Oklahoma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and a respected and beloved figure on the OU campus, died July 16, 2003, after a long illness. Dr. Lehr was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Princeton University in 1964. He joined the University of Oklahoma's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1968, eventually becoming a David Ross Boyd Professor and a Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He served as interim chairman of the department and was twice interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Alpha of Oklahoma chapter now presents the Roland Lehr Memorial Prize in his honor to one or two Phi Beta Kappa graduates who plan to pursue graduate work in the natural sciences, the physical sciences, or medicine.
