Asa Packer
Entrepreneur
Pioneer of railroad construction who established Lehigh University.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1841 until 1842. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms.
He donated 115 acres of land for Lehigh University, which was tuition-free for its first 26 years.
He worked as a carpenter's apprentice with his cousin Edward. He had seven children with his wife Sarah Minerva Blakslee.
He was born in the same year as Joseph Smith.