Deceased September 27, 2017

View alumni profile (log in required)
Read obituary


In Memory

Yale died Sept. 27 2017, at the age of 89. He went to the Clark School in New Hampshire.

At Amherst, Yale was quiet, studious and viewed as a good guy. He was very bright and graduated with a B.A. in mathematics.

Yale had a highly successful business career, first with RCA and then as the entrepreneurial founder of Thermacore, a manufacturer of heat pipes—metal clad pipes for transferring heat efficiently and evenly. Yale’s initial job at RCA was helping to set up, in Lancaster, Pa., the first color tube factory for TV. He worked on many technologies. In 1966 he wrote a cover story for Scientific American on heat pipes. He became a recognized world expert. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 21 patents. In 1970 he decided to take this relatively new technology and commercialize it in Lancaster. Thus began Thermacore. It grew into more than 200 employees with operations in five countries. Yale sold it in 2001.

But his career was not over. He started up StarH, an antenna company for high-end communications. From 1980 on, Yale took an active interest in promoting technology in central Pennsylvania through professional groups and angel investing. The Eastman Partnership was formed to provide management and technical advice to entrepreneurs. Yale was also prominent in supporting the greater Lancaster community.

Yale is survived by his wife, Jane; two sons, Peter and Roger; and three grandchildren.

John Priesing ’50