Wallace Richard Wirths (7 July 1921 – 6 July 2002), was a former Westinghouse executive, politician, author, newspaper columnist and radio commentator, who was a benefactor of

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States. Upsala was founded in ...

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

.Strunksy, Steve
"IN BRIEF; Dream of a College Tinged With Sadness"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 2, 1998. (Retrieved July 10, 2012).Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois
Swenson Center Archives: Wirths Campus in Sussex County records - Series XIV, Boxes 1-6, folders 1-55
Retrieved 22 May 2013.

Biography

Born in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

on 7 July 1921, Wirths attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

and served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during peacetime.Associated Press. "Wallace Wirths, donated land for college, dies at 80"] (8 July 2002). Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. In 1957, Wirths moved to Wantage Township, New Jersey, Wantage Township, in Sussex County, in northwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

where he became active in local politics. The author of three books, Wirths wrote a column for ''

The New Jersey Herald The ''New Jersey Herald'' is a newspaper published six days (Sunday-Friday) every week. Its headquarters are in Newton, New Jersey. It is the only daily newspaper published in Sussex County, New Jersey and one of the oldest in the state. It has a ...

'' and was a frequent conservative radio commentator, with his segment "Wally Wirths Candidly Speaking" on

WSUS Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), previously known as Software Update Services (SUS), is a computer program and network service developed by Microsoft Corporation that enables administrators to manage the distribution of updates and hotf ...

. He was a public relations executive with Westinghouse Corporation until his retirement in 1979.

Wirths Campus of Upsala College

Before it closed in 1995,

operated a satellite campus in Wantage Township, New Jersey, Wantage Township which it named the "Wirths Campus." Wirths donated his family's farm to the college in 1978. The school had considered moving to Sussex County as East Orange's crime problem and social conditions deteriorated in the 1970s but chose to remain committed to East Orange. However, declining enrollment and financial difficulties forced the school to close."IN BRIEF: The Doors Are Closed At Upsala College"
''

'', June 4, 1995. (Retrieved July 10, 2012). The Wirths family bought back their farm in Wantage from the college for $75,000. Wirths received an honorary

doctor of law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

degree from Upsala College.

Personal life

Wirths died on 6 July 2002 from complications of a stroke he suffered in 1996. He was buried in Clove Cemetery in Wantage. One of Wirths' four adopted sons is New Jersey politician Harold J. Wirths, the state's current commissioner of the

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Civil Service Commission is an independent body within the New Jersey state government under the auspices of the ...

Works

* 1985: ''Democracy: Panacea or Pandemonium'' * 1993: ''Democracy-- The Myth, the Reality: A Primer on the True Nature of Our Democratic Republic'' * 1996: ''The Human Race Stinks: Perspectives of an Iconoclast''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirths, Wallace R. People from Sussex County, New Jersey New Jersey Republicans County commissioners in New Jersey American radio personalities 1921 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American male writers