Lewis Guthman passed away in June 2009 at his home in Bethesda after courageously battling brain tumors for four and a half years. His lifelong friend and B-CC classmate Betsy Roistacher shared stories about his junior high and high school years with family and friends at his funeral.

Lewis was a proud graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Franklin honors program where, among other things, he won an award for having the most books in his personal library. He spent the summer between his freshman and sophomore years working on a construction crew that built the Potomac Valley Nursing Home in Rockville.

He nourished his intellectual curiosity at the graduate level by studying physics in a joint graduate program at Princeton and Rutgers and began his career working on environmental, energy and health issues for New York City. After returning to DC, Lewis had a long career as a consultant for federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Administration, the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In his spare time, he was a volunteer escort for the Kennedy Center Honors Program, personally showing our nation’s capital to honorees including Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke. He was an extra in an opera performance at the Kennedy Center and proudly told people about his “date” with Audrey Hepburn. He was also a volunteer for the DC Humane Society’s “Bark Ball,” the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and Pyle Middle School.

Lewis loved Thai food, tennis, and dogs. If you ever had a glass of wine with him, I’m certain it was a “crisp yet playful white, bemused by its own insouciance.”

Above all, Lewis was very devoted to his family – his wife Adina, and his two children: Noah, now 19 (who attended the BCC 30th reunion “in utero” with Lewis and Adina); and Maya, now 16. Although neither of his children went to high school at B-CC, in the spring of 2010, when son Noah was profiled in Bethesda Magazine, the photo shoot was at B-CC.

Submitted by Lewis's widow, Adina