About Humphries Lewis Payne

Lewis Payne earned bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering management from Missouri S&T in 1990 and 1993, respectively. A varsity football nose tackle and wrestler, Payne was equally respected for his leadership, tutoring fellow students in physics and engineering courses, and actively serving in organizations including the Missouri S&T chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Management, the Association of Black Students and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He was a Minority Engineering and Science Program advisor, a resident assistant at Thomas Jefferson Hall, and a baritone with the Voices of Inspiration Choir. As a member of the First Assembly of God in Rolla, Payne's faith shone through in his life and his poetry.

Payne began his career as a packaging engineer at Anheuser-Busch. Following his passing in 1994, his legacy of encouragement, excellence and "No Payne, No Gain" perseverance lives on through the scholarship established in his memory, supporting future generations of students. Payne's life passion is best expressed by the poet Robert Hayton: This man shall be remembered oh not with the legends and poems and reefs of bronze alone, but with the lives grown out of his life.