He didn’t wear a bike helmet, kneepads or reflective vest — just a three-piece suit with impeccable tailoring.
Dr. Joseph S. Lichty, a hospital administrator in Akron, endured a lot of teasing about his preferred mode of transportation, but his fondness and appreciation for bicycling never wavered.
“In fact, I think a lot of our traffic problems would be solved if more people rode bicycles,” he explained.
Lichty’s daily commute was a novelty in the 1950s and 1960s as the well-dressed gentleman pumped his long legs and steered his three-speed bike alongside gigantic automobiles in congested West Akron.
“Frankly, I’m hooted at — when I’m not greeted with outright stares of surprise,” he said.
The Pittsburgh native, 49, left a hospital post in Greensboro, N.C., in May 1957 to succeed newly retired Eva P. Craig as executive director of Akron General Hospital, formerly Peoples Hospital and known today as Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center.
A son of two physicians, Lichty was educated at Princeton, graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1933 and earned his master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 1938. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army medical corps in Europe, which is where he developed his love of bicycling.
Akron residents gawked when Lichty pulled out a three-speed British bike with a headlight, taillight and clamp-on tire pump. Riding a bicycle not only was fun, but it was a convenient form of transportation and good exercise, he tried to explain.
He rode the thing everywhere as weather allowed, including commuting to work from his temporary home at the City Club in the Ohio Building on South Main Street.
“I generally leave the bike right out on the sidewalk,” he told the Beacon Journal in June 1957. “Nobody bothers it.”
The seven-minute round trip was a breeze, but Lichty had to leave it behind that July when he and his wife, Marian, moved into a luxurious home on Hampshire Road in Fairlawn Heights.
“It’s just a little bit far,” Lichty said. “I’ve ridden out there and back twice, sort of as a test, and … I can do it. I’m sure I can.”
Sure enough, the longer commute wasn’t a problem. Lichty’s daily route was Hampshire Road to West Market Street to West Exchange to Wabash Avenue to the hospital. The trip lasted about 25 to 30 minutes, but returning home took a bit longer because there were more hills to climb.
Lichty carefully obeyed all traffic regulations, maintaining a distance of 18 to 24 inches from the curb. Carloads of teens often whizzed past in new convertibles, pointing and laughing at the dapper doctor. Lichty acknowledged them with a nod as he pedaled ahead.
The irony was that Lichty owned a convertible, too. He kept it parked at the hospital for those rare times when he needed it. “I never would try to get around in it in the course of a day,” he explained. “I’ve found it much easier to pedal out here after it when I have to have a car for some trip or other.”
The hospital administrator estimated that he traveled about 1,000 miles a year on his bike. Lichty, his wife and their children Ann, Corinn and Joseph Jr. all owned bicycles and enjoyed taking family vacations where they could ride around and see the sights.
As executive director at Akron General, Lichty supervised a $15 million expansion that included a nine-story addition that doubled the hospital’s capacity to 900 beds. Psychiatric care, a radiology department and nursing facility were all improved during his tenure.
However, Lichty unexpectedly announced his retirement in the summer of 1970, citing “diverging views” with the board of trustees regarding hospital administration.
“Although I did leave Akron General Hospital with the end of last month, I have not left Akron,” explained in a September 1970 letter to the Beacon Journal. “… So, for the time being, you may expect to see me using my bicycle whenever it seems most convenient.”
Lichty continued working in the medical field at Edwin Shaw Hospital and later the Plasma Alliance.
Of course, he also continued to be associated with bicycling. During a charity auction at the Akron Symphony Ball, a tandem ride with the doctor was offered as a prize.
In 1975, Lichty donated two bicycle racks to be installed at the South Main Street and South High Street entrances to the Main Library in downtown Akron.
All that exercise surely was beneficial because Dr. Joseph S. Lichty enjoyed a good, long life. He was 94 years old when he died in his sleep in 2002 at Rockynol Retirement Complex in Akron.
He helped blaze a trail through Akron, which has transformed into a bicycle-friendly city with lanes, paths and racks.
The delighted doctor would be the one pointing and laughing today.
Mark J. Price can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.