Physics Professor Emeritus Michael Lieber, a beloved educator, researcher and long-time U of A community member, died Dec. 23, 2024, just a few days shy of his 88th birthday.

His career, service and dedication to the U of A and its students spanned more than 41 years, after Lieber joined the Department of Physics in 1970 as an assistant professor. He later rose to full professor and served a term as department chair before officially retiring in 2011, attaining the rank of professor emeritus.

That didn’t keep him away from the U of A for long though, as Lieber was frequently coaxed from retirement to teach specialized classes and continued to come to campus often to meet with his colleagues, friends and students when he was able to.

“Mike was unusually brilliant, yet warm and caring to all of his colleagues. We miss him greatly!” said William “Lin” Oliver, chair of the Department of Physics.

For decades, Lieber was known as leader of the “Lunch Bunch,” Oliver said. He would knock on doors and gather folks to walk to the Union for lunch, where the conversation would flow richly and cover topics ranging from physics to the news, politics, literature, everyday life, family and everything in between.

“Mike always had insightful, often witty, things to contribute,” Oliver said. One favorite annual conversation was speculating on each year’s physics Nobel Prize winners, he added.

Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College and professor of history, also remembers Lieber as “an insightful and lively colleague whose investment in his department was that of an exceptional citizen.”

“Professor Lieber transformed the lives of young researchers, new faculty, faculty interested in the history of science and the community at large,” she said. “He is missed [but] remains a cornerstone figure in the Department of Physics, Fulbright College, the U of A and the international world of scientific research.”

Lieber particularly enjoyed teaching Honors colloquia on topics like cosmology, starting to do so back before the Honors College was even created, and he also co-created the U of A’s Quantum Reality course with colleague Lothar Schafer. He was a big advocate of studying abroad and always encouraged his students to do so.

He was also a founding member of the Hillel International student chapter at the U of A and was involved in creating Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas. Lieber was well-known as a guide and mentor to many of the university’s Jewish students, faculty and staff.

“Mike was such an incredibly important presence. He was an early supporter of the Jewish Studies program; he came to everything, he always wanted to engage,” said Jennifer Hoyer, the program’s director and associate professor of German.

“He was also simply super interesting to talk to, about everything from physics and math to history to semiotics,” she added. “The community is richer for having had him as a part of it. He is sorely missed.”

Daniel Levine, University Professor of Classical Studies in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, agreed adding that Lieber’s passing “has left a big hole in our lives.”

“Mike Lieber was my friend and colleague for 45 years. I worked with him at Temple Shalom, where we both served terms as president. It was always a pleasure to see him and his family at the synagogue; our families became very close,” Levine said.

The duo also worked together in the Arkansas Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, where both served terms as president.

“He had an opinion about everything but was always interested in hearing what others thought, too. Mike was kind, considerate and witty,” Levine recalled.

Likewise, Suzanne McCray, U of A’s vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admissions, remembers Lieber’s intense dedication to the honors group.  

“He was an active member and trusted keeper of ‘the book’ that U of A Phi Beta Kappans signed from the first class until now,” she said. “He was also instrumental in the 60th anniversary celebration of Phi Beta Kappa on our campus and came to initiation ceremonies long after he retired.”  

McCray said Lieber was “an intellectually interesting and interested person with a kind heart,” and also a very proud father.

“His daughters both participated in the honors program, and I came to know him better through them,” she said. “[Though] I first got to know him when he taught a course in the Fulbright College honors program. Students loved the course, and they admired him. Mike Lieber will be greatly missed.”

Lieber loved his students, too, and was known to remember them years after they were in his class and enjoyed running into them in town or hearing updates about their lives.

He enjoyed teaching and interacting with his children’s friends, many of whom became educators and researchers themselves, including Stephanie Schulte, now associate dean in Fulbright College.

She remembers Lieber as “perhaps the most passionate and inquisitive intellectual I have ever met. He knew something about everything and a lot about most things.”

“I loved seeing the playful glimmer in his eyes when he thought of a clever question to ask or had an amusing observation to offer,” she added.

Kathleen Condray, now professor of German at the U of A, likewise remembers Lieber as always being a “guter Geist.”

“[It’s] like someone who gives a positive vibe to the house, always puttering in the background and occasionally swinging through and making some hilarious comment on whatever he overheard,” she said.

Lieber’s family has remained deeply connected to U of A and its surrounding community.

His wife of 60 years, Eileen Lieber, worked alongside him as a lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences from 1980 to 2008, and his two daughters and two granddaughters are all alumnae of the U of A.

Daughter Laura Lieber was in one of the first five cohorts of Sturgis Fellows, one of the university’s oldest and most prestigious fellowships, and daughter Deborah Deere is now staff physician and medical director of the Eating Disorder Treatment Team at U of A’s Pat Walker Health Center.

In addition, granddaughter Natalie Lieber received her B.A. in journalism with an emphasis on Ad/PR from the U of A, graduating summa cum laude in 2021. She went on to pursue her master's degree at Kings College in London.

Likewise, granddaughter Ashley Lieber received her B.S. in physics from the U of A, graduating summa cum laude in 2022. She is now working on a Ph.D. in astrophysics as a Madison & Lila Self Graduate Fellow at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Years before becoming an educator and fixture of the U of A community, Michael Lieber was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Dec. 28, 1936, the oldest son of Joseph Lieber and Sara (née Schwartz) Lieber.

After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in 1953, he attended Cornell University on a state scholarship, where he majored in physics and math. After graduating from Cornell in 1957, he went to Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. under the guidance of Nobel laureate Julian Schwinger.

En route to earning his Ph.D., he gained experience in industry, primarily at Avco Corporation, where he was chief of the Scientific Problems section. After finishing his Ph.D., he accepted a post-doctoral research position at New York University and then joined the U of A, where he spent the rest of his career.

In addition to his passion for teaching, Lieber enjoyed music and the theater, especially opera, and he frequently attended TheatreSquared, SoNA, Walton Arts Center, Opera in the Ozarks and Live from the Met productions. He also loved to travel, with his most recent excursions including Singapore, Cambodia, Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. He had been looking forward to visiting Germany and Prague in summer 2025.

As much as he enjoyed expanding his horizons, Lieber prioritized his family over everything else. He loved connecting with relatives near and far, those closely related and more tenuously; if the relatives were college-aged and could benefit from tutoring, advice or just a good argument, even better. He took pride in everyone's accomplishments and delighted in following everyone's adventures as though they were his own. And because he was an expert worrier, no one else had to worry very much at all.

Lieber was pre-deceased by his parents, his brother Edward and by his son, Kenneth. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Eileen (nee Saffron); his brothers Stephen and Richard; his two accomplished daughters, Laura (Scott Strain) and Debbie Deere (Tom); his daughter-in-law, Dana; and six grandchildren.

Arrangements were handled by of Nelson-Berna in Fayetteville, and a memorial service will be held in the near future. Condolences and memories can be shared online.

Donations may be made in Michael Lieber’s name to Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas, and, as per his own wishes, mourners are encouraged to lift a glass of their best Scotch whisky in his memory. L'chayim to a full life, well-lived to the very end.