UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics mourns the passing of former NCAA faculty representative John Coyle, who died on Jan. 16 in State College. He was 87.
Coyle was Penn State's NCAA faculty representative for 30 years (1970-2000) and retired from his post in the summer of 2000. Despite his full-time responsibilities as a professor in the Smeal College of Business, Dr. Coyle was a national leader on academic issues impacting student-athletes. His national reputation among University faculty helped to accelerate Penn State's transition into the Big Ten Conference.
Coyle completed a B.S. Degree in 1957 and an M.S. degree in 1959, both in Business Administration, from Penn State. In the fall of 1959, he enrolled at Indiana University where he was awarded a U.S. Steel Fellowship. He continued his doctoral studies at Indiana, which he completed in August of 1961.
In September of 1961, he returned to Penn State to join the faculty as an assistant professor of business administration and was promoted to full professor in 1967. Coyle helped develop, and for many years led, the logistics/supply chain program within Penn State's Smeal College of Business. He held five different administrative positions, including being the founding director of the Center for Supply Chain Research. He also served on the staffs of two Penn State presidents as a special assistant for strategic planning.
Coyle received the Council of Logistics Management's Distinguished Service Award in 1991; the Academic Excellence Award for Continuing and Distance Education from Penn State in 1994; the Eccles Medal from the International Society of Logistics and The Lion's Paw Medal from Penn State both in 2004. He also received Commendations from the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Department of Defense for providing Educational Service in Logistics.
Coyle is pre-deceased by his parents, Catherine and Jack Coyle, and three siblings, Harry "Bo" Coyle, Neal Coyle and Catherine Bunton. He is survived by his wife, Barbara and two children; John (wife Melissa) and Susan Weber (husband Carl). He is also survived by his brother Michael (Kathy), his brother-in-law Michael Kersnick and his sister-in-law Sharon Coyle. He had seven grandchildren: Lauren, Matthew and Elizabeth Weber; and Emily, Benjamin, Cathryn and Zachary Coyle.
Memorial contributions may be made to The John J. Coyle Scholarship Fund (fund SCBCJ) either by check made out to Penn State University and sent to: The Smeal College of Business – Development (attn. Michelle Houser), The Pennsylvania State University, 209 Business Building, University Park, PA 16802-3603, or online via https://www.smeal.psu.edu/alumni/support-smeal.
