The Matthew A. Melone Faculty Award has been established by the Melone family.

Matt and Anthony Melone
Matt (left) and Anthony (right) Melone

“Matt loved the process of learning,” said Anthony Melone, Matt’s brother. “He loved it when a student asked him a question and he didn’t know the answer. He loved to explore and understand both sides.”

Matthew Melone, who died at age 61 this past July, was already a certified public accountant and a tax attorney when he joined the faculty of the College of Business in 1993.

He was a recipient of the Class of 1961 Professorship, which honors Lehigh faculty for outstanding contributions to teaching, scholarship and service. In 2020, he received the MS in Management Teacher of Excellence Award as voted by the students.

“My brother was a tough teacher,” said Anthony, “but despite that his students appreciated him.” Anthony recently talked about Matt’s wife, Annamarie, finding notes from Matt’s students. “They would say, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t do well in your class, but I loved it,’” shared Anthony.

“Matt was very humble,” said Anthony, “but he was proud of how his students reacted to his class."

The Melone family is honored to endow a yearly recognition of a Lehigh Business faculty member who best exemplifies the traits Matt so generously shared: rigorous pedagogy coupled with devotion to student learning.

“He would have liked this,” said Anthony.

Read Some of Matt's Research

Rob Gerth

Rob Gerth

Rob Gerth is director of marketing and communications at Lehigh Business.