Jerome "Jerry" P. Keuper (1921-2002) was a physicist and the founder and first president of Brevard Engineering College (later the

Florida Institute of Technology The Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. App ...

), and served in the position from 1958 to 1986.

Early life

Keuper was born in

Fort Thomas, Kentucky Fort Thomas is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States, on the southern bank of the Ohio River and the site of an 1890 US Army post. The population was 16,325 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city in Campb ...

in 1921. He joined the United States Army and served mostly in China and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as an intelligence officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Keuper earned a bachelor's degree from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, a master's from Stanford University and a doctorate from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. He was an MG car enthusiast and is credited with bringing the MG Car Club Florida to Brevard County.

Career

He joined the Systems Analysis Group of

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

in the early days of the

Space Race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...

, and moved to

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in ...

. Keuper started the Brevard Engineering college in 1958 utilizing junior high school classrooms rented from the Brevard County School District. He did this as there was a need in the area to supply engineers to

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

for the growing U.S. space program. When the school board found out that a black student had been admitted in 1959, they ended their arrangement with Keuper. He then relocated his school to a local church until he had obtained enough private funding to build his own campus. Throughout his life he also served as chairman of the Council of Presidents of the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities; director of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, (informally referred to as the Atlanta Fed and the Bank), is the sixth district of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States and is headquartered in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Fed cover ...

, Jacksonville Branch; president of the International Palm Society, and advisory board member for both the

National Energy Foundation The National Energy Foundation (NEF) is an independent British charity, established to improve the use of energy in buildings. Aims The charity aims to ''improve the use of energy in buildings''. This statement simplified the earlier stated ...

and the

Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...

. Keuper had several of his books published and included topics such as idiomatic expressions in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Awards

In 1995, Keuper was inducted into the Brevard County Business Hall of FameJunior Achievement of the Space Coast
"Business Hall of Fame Laureates"
Accessed 16 December 2018.

Death

He died on March 25, 2002, in Brevard County, Florida of congestive heart failure at age 81. His statue stands on the FIT campus in the original academic quad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keuper, Jerome P. 1921 births 2002 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American education writers People from Brevard County, Florida People from Fort Thomas, Kentucky People in the space industry Presidents of Florida Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Stanford University alumni United States Army soldiers University of Virginia alumni American expatriates in China American expatriates in Myanmar University and college founders 20th-century American academics