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J. Reginald Dietz

Portrait of Reginald Dietz

Inducted

1986

Degrees

  • B.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1952
  • M.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1954
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1956

Reginald Dietz was born in Hico, on November 15, 1929. He graduated from Nuttall High School in 1947. He is an alumnus of West Virginia University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering in 1952, 1954 and 1956, respectively. While a student at WVU, he was a member of Mountain, Sphinx, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Lambda Upsilon, Sigma Gamma Epsilon and Sigma Xi.

Dietz joined National Steel Corporation at its Great Lakes Steel Division in 1956 as an assistant metallurgist. He transferred to National Steel's new research and development department in Weirton, in 1959 as senior research engineer. He advanced through several jobs in research and development becoming assistant director in 1963, director in 1969 and then vice president, research and development in 1978. After 30 years of service with National Steel, he retired in 1986.

Dietz is a past president of the West Virginia University Alumni Association, a past chairman of the West Virginia University Board of Advisors and a past member of the board of directors of the West Virginia University Foundation, Inc. He was inducted into the WVU Order of Vandalia in 1987. He lives in Weirton, and is married to the former Billie Jewell Kast, a 1955 WVU graduate. They have three children, James Allan, Barbara Jane and John Robert.