Spencer Max Vawter

Born at home on the family farm in Johnson County, Indiana, February 18, 1937, he was the first child of Alice Yeager Vawter and Ralph Waldo Vawter.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his beloved wife Jane and his sister Carol Gladders.

Intimately acquainted with hard work from the moment he could button his own overalls, Spencer undertook any number of less-than-glamorous jobs, including digging graves under the watchful eye of his Granddad Frank, to put himself through school. Among other important life lessons, Granddad Frank also taught him how to sit quietly in the boat while fishing.

He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Franklin College as part of the Class of 1959. Days after completing his studies (a semester early), Spencer was on a plane to Boston to join Bell Labs, then the most prestigious and storied industrial research and development company in the world. He was soon assigned to important projects such as the SAGE early warning system. SAGE directed and controlled the NORAD response to a possible Soviet air attack, for which Spencer was granted a top-secret security clearance, to the astonishment and alarm of his mother.

After several years and postings in Boston, Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, Spencer accepted a senior position in the Medical Instrumentation department of the American Medical Association (AMA) and relocated, with his wife and a toddler in tow, to Chicago.

He earned a Master’s Degree in Physics from DePaul University in 1969, which he achieved largely at night, after work, before returning home on the last Chicago & Northwestern train out of Union Station (two hot dogs and two Martinis for $5 in the bar car) to his wife and, by then, three young children. His thesis, on the use of lasers in treating diseases of the eye, was enlivened by the bench-made cold laser he brought home on several occasions to amaze and startle the kids.

His first marriage ended in divorce. His second marriage, to Jane Vawter, lasted 51 years.

He and Jane and their blended family moved in 1973 to Spencer’s hometown of Indianapolis when Spence received an offer to join a small medical technology firm called Bio-Dynamics, as the assistant to the Chairman. During this time he shared a secretary (as they were called then) with Indiana Pacers superstar George McGinnis, as the Chairman also owned the team.

Over the next several years, the firm grew rapidly, its innovative products ultimately making it an attractive target for a takeover by Boehringer Mannheim, one of the world’s largest privately owned pharmaceutical companies. Spencer spent the next several years shuttling between Indiana and Germany with increasing responsibility before orchestrating the sale of a small division of the company that specialized in an obscure technology called ultrasound (maybe you’ve heard of it) along with his own exit as the resulting new company’s CEO.

Over the next three decades Spencer bought, fixed, grew and sold numerous medical technology firms across the country. After all six of their children had graduated from college and established themselves in their own careers, Spencer and Jane spent a few rewarding years in Santa Barbara, California, where he had been asked to turn around a promising but poorly managed company specializing in implant technology. It was an eye-opening experience on many levels.

Returning again to Indianapolis, Spence helped several more startup companies find their footing in the market before retiring in 2002. He then turned his focus and energy to another passion: golf. Not merely knocking the ball around -- although he truly loved the game and the friendships it brought him and played many of the world’s great courses including Pebble Beach and St. Andrews -- but working to save his local club, Hillcrest in Avalon Hills, getting it listed on the National Register of Historic Places and creating a nonprofit foundation to rescue it from financial collapse. In the words of one of his fellow members, “Spence was one of the most important members this club ever had. Ever.” “Spence” also served several terms as club President and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2013.

Other accolades and honors accumulated over the course of his life and career include:

• Chairman of the Indiana Visiting Nurses Association

• President of the Chicago Physics Club

• IUPUI Science Dean’s Advisory Board

• Director, Rock Steady Boxing Inc.

• Grand Champion Ayrshire bull calf at the 1953 Indiana State Fair. (If you are a Hoosier reading this, you know what a big deal it is.)

He not only lived the life of an overachiever, he wrote the book on it. His autobiography, The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get: A Memoir of Life and the Lessons I Learned, was published in 2014 and documents Spencer’s journey from farm boy to CEO. It’s highly likely that at this very moment, one of his kids is quoting a passage from it to one of their own offspring, hoping fervently for the same effect it had on them when they heard it from Dad.

Spencer is survived by his and Jane’s six children: Michael Lemke (Lori); David Vawter (Eve); Douglas Lemke (Karen); Daniel Vawter (Korena); Christopher Lemke (Stephanie); and Dr. Rebecca Herren (Chris), as well as 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren

The family wishes to thank the staff at Traditions at Solana for taking such excellent care of Spencer over the past few months.

A celebration of Spencer’s life will take place on Saturday, October 26th at 2:00 p.m. at St. Luke’s Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th Street Indianapolis, IN 46260.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Assistance League of Indianapolis, an organization to which both Spencer and Jane were deeply committed. https://www.alindy.org/