WEVIBRANT ARE


Kate Roche blends her love for art with a passion for science.


Growing up, I was surrounded by art because it was my mother’s passion. Her works included Valley Green landscapes, clay sculptures and marble sculptures. Though I never took an art course at Penn State, I grew to appreciate my mother’s talent and the works of art by the masters.


My wife, Marilyn, is a retired teacher and early childhood education director who shares my interest in supporting education and the arts so together we created the Bertha R. Lear Student Art Exhibition and Awards Program in memory of my mother. It gives me chills to meet Penn State Abington art students and see their creativity and enthusiasm.


My business success made it possible for me to enjoy a life filled with art, from Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibitions to visiting the Musée d’Orsay in France. Unfortunately, my father never got to see my achievements. He was a salesman who worked hard every day without any acknowledgment and passed away at age 57, just months after I came back from Vietnam. So I honored him by creating the Jules J. Lear Staff Dedication Award, which celebrates hard-working Penn State staff who have never received any recognition for their efforts.


I pinch myself that we’ve been able to do this for others.


– Bob Lear, ’67, Business


For me, art is a place to escape. But I started at Penn State majoring in biology because I wanted to be financially secure and was afraid of relying on art as a career.


Then I took an art commentary course that really made me see how artists do research, connect ideas to other subjects and bring something meaningful to life. The faculty at Penn State helped me decide to major in art with a biology minor instead.


The artistic connection to biology comes from working with things invisible to the human eye. I look under the microscope a lot in my bio classes so am always searching for ways to create layers and depth. I do a lot of encaustic art work because I like the texture and transparency of beeswax. My encaustic piece, “Inspired by Agates,” won the Bertha Lear Purchase Award for Best in Show. It’s a great honor and helps toward the cost of my art materials.


After graduation, I’ll be traveling in Indonesia, experiencing different cultures and seeing what influence that can have on my artwork before I settle into a job, hopefully in medical textbook illustration.


– Kate Roche, ’14, Art


Art with heart: Bob and Marilyn Lear support the arts while honoring the past.


CONV E R SAT IONS I N C A R I N G


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