Remembering Stan Lembeck a Life of Purpose in Community Planning

This was brought to our attention by PALPer Gil Longwell, PALP IV, who asked if he could acknowledge Stan's work. Matt Kaplan (Professor of Intergenerational Programs & Aging, College of Agricultural Sciences) decided to partner this outreach with Stan's lovely wife, Carolyn Lembeck. Carolyn shared, "Although I miss Stan every day, I can only be grateful for the life we shared for so long."

JD had a recent conversation with Art Hershey, PALP I, as well, who reflects often on his PALP experience with her, and fondly remembers Stan Lembeck. JD responded to Art by adding, "I bet you remember Stan Lembeck the way most of us do…his azzling smile, and his hearty greetings."

Matt Kaplan (Professor of Intergenerational Programs & Aging; Stan's colleague and friend) and Carolyn Lembeck (wife of 66 years; close collaborator and partner on numerous projects) reflect on Stan's impact.

This reflection is offered as a companion to other tributes that recount Stan Lembeck's Penn State years and early contributions. We highlight another defining dimension of Stan's legacy: his enduring, mission-driven commitment to responsive, community-centered planning. This work continued long after his formal retirement (2002) and remained central to him until the final days of his life.

Stan entered the planning profession in 1958, and by the time he joined Penn State Extension in 1965, he had already learned what would become his lifelong message: communities hold deep knowledge of themselves, and citizen planners can lead well when they are equipped to understand both the promise and the legal responsibilities of public service.

Stan teaching, "Plant an Orchard," often described his calling in plain, memorable terms:

"An itinerant teacher of planning, offering 
workshops and clinics on planning and land 
use regulation. My classrooms are borough 
buildings, fire halls, school cafeterias, and 
local boardrooms…. I am a peddler of 
planning education."

In those "classrooms," Stan strengthened local leaders across Pennsylvania—training, mentoring, and helping communities navigate planning and land-use decisions with clarity, care, and accountability. His influence is perhaps best captured by what participants carried forward from his teaching. On the occasion of Stan's 90th birthday, one former trainee wrote:

"I want to thank you for your dedication to planning and to preparing community leaders throughout the Commonwealth. You really re-energized me during the Community Planning Train-the-Trainer Program. I didn't realize how much I needed that. You're a brilliant educator and mentor, and for that I am grateful."

We share that gratitude. Stan's legacy lives in the many communities and counties he served, and in the generations of citizen leaders he helped prepare—people better equipped to shape a future that reflects community values and strengthens community life.

—Matt Kaplan and Carolyn Lembeck

Reflections from a Public Affairs Leadership Program, PALP IV, alumnus - Gil Longwell

"Let me tell you about my friend Stan … I and many, many other emergent rural leaders met Stan Lembeck in Libertyville, an ephemeral place in Pennsylvania. In 1973, you couldn't find Libertyville on a Google map because there wasn't a Google map on which to find it. Libertyville was and is more a state of mind or a crossroads in life. 

Teaching destination or goal identification skills, path-finding techniques, and milestone identification, Stan guided planning professionals, elected officials, volunteers, and community leaders in their search for a better blueprint for the future of their communities. Even Libertyville evolved through PALP and, later, RULE, the Pennsylvania Rural-Urban Leadership Program.

Stan was part of Penn State Extension, and, indeed, he did the extension part very well. Long after my formal PALP class ended, I sporadically crossed paths with Stan or some of the other Extension folks across the Commonwealth. We shared a common goal: to help rural leaders lead more productively. Stan helped 'planning resistant leaders' to understand that choosing not to plan is to surrender their community's future to the forces with the least concern for the community's future! Those, he pointed out, are the forces of the marketplace.

Stan directly helped people understand that doing nothing is, indeed, doing something! Usually, what gets done this way disappoints future generations. Recently, we lost Stan and his passion for a better future for all of the Libertyvilles he served. Happily, the future generations of leaders that he helped create and enabled to flourish will continue the work he so vigorously initiated and nurtured.

Thank you, Stan!"