Bucks business professor
and advisor for the Students
in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Joan
R. Weiss passed away on
Friday, Sept. 26, from cancer.
Professor Weiss began her
teaching career at Bucks in
1983, and she became a Sam
Walton Free Enterprise
Fellow when she started the
Bucks chapter of SIFE in 1990.
With Weiss as the faculty
adviser, SIFE won several
awards, including international
championships in 1997
and 1998. In 1997, Weiss
earned the Jack Kahl Award
as the Sam Walton Free
Enterprise Fellow of the Year,
and in 2000-01, she won the
Lindback Distinguished
Teaching Award.
Her numerous awards, as
well as the recognitions that
SIFE won under her leadership,
are on display in a large
trophy case in Penn Hall,
located across the hallway
from room 407.
Weiss received her bachelor’s
degree from Penn State
University, and master’s
degree from The College of
New Jersey. Before starting
her career at Bucks, Weiss
was a buyer for Lit Brothers
department store in
Philadelphia. During her
teaching career, Weiss held a
real estate license for
Pennsylvania, and she was
active with the Lower Bucks
County Chamber of
Commerce, and Hadassah.
On the Monday morning
after Weiss’s passing,
Business Studies Department
Secretary Mary Kuna wrote a
note that she placed on
Weiss’s office door, to inform
the students who tried to find
her there.
Kuna wrote in her note,
“.If you had Mrs. Weiss as
an instructor, you received a
wonderful education in
Marketing/Management and
how to be a professional individual.
She gave herself to the
world of education in and out
of the classroom. If you were
a colleague, you knew her as
someone who would bring
new ideas to the college,
someone who pulled her
weight, someone who made a
difference at Bucks and the
community.” In a deliberately
separated paragraph, Kuna
concluded the note by writing,
“If you knew her as a
friend, you were the most fortunate
of all.”
Kuna also spoke of how
Weiss, despite being ill for a
long time before succumbing
to cancer, was able to keep a
positive attitude until the day
she passed away.
“She meant a lot to us,”
Kuna said in conclusion.
Business Professor Blaine
Greenfield, a longtime friend
and colleague of Weiss, said,
“There will not be a day that
goes by when I won’t think of
Joan when I walk into Penn
Hall. Her enthusiasm and
dedication were a constant
inspiration to me, as well as
to her many students.”
Another business professor
and 30-year friend and colleague
of Weiss, Debbie
Grant, said Weiss possessed
many qualities that made her
a great teacher. Grant said
that Weiss was a skilled networker,
was personally
invested in and involved with
the success of her students
and was always able to
inspire students to feel confident
enough to take on their
most difficult academic challenges.
Grant talked about Weiss’s
generous nature. “She was
always doing things for other
people and never expected
anything in return.”
Like Kuna, Grant mentioned
that Weiss was a very
positive person, even to the
end.
Grant said, “She was just a
wonderful person. She’ll be
missed.”