Lyman A. Cousens

Lyman A. Cousens, Lambda, 1902, Phi Alpha 1913-1914

Lyman A. Cousens, Lambda, 1902, was a successful securities broker with a solid devotion to his alma mater, Bowdoin College and Zeta Psi. As an undergraduate, Cousens was a class vice president and member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating, he continued his studies at Harvard University graduating in 1903.

Brother Cousens began his business career in Portland, Maine, his hometown, with
Milliken, Cousens & Company in 1903. Ten years later, he became a partner in Noyes & Cousens and in 1915 he started his own firm. He was very much a part of the Portland business community.

Throughout his life, he demonstrated his dedication to Bowdoin and Zeta Psi. In 1930, he served as president of the Bowdoin Alumni Council. In 1932, he and J.S. Richards were the first recipients of Bowdoin’s annual Alumni Achievement Award because of his “distinguished service to and for the College.” Brother Cousens served on the College’s Board of Overseers from 1933 to the year of his death in 1941.

He showed the same commitment to the Lambda chapter. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the local elders determined that the chapter needed a new house.
Brother Achorn purchased a strategically located lot and donated it to the elder
association. An elder building committee was established to raise the required funds
with Brother Cousens being the only undergraduate member. $14,000 was raised and
in January 1904, the house was opened. In 1909, Brother Cousens was named
treasurer of the association and for sixteen years “by dint of his own labors and by
personal finance, he kept the house open.” (The Story of Zeta Psi, 1932)

Upon his death, the president of Bowdoin College noted his many years of service to
the college and Zeta Psi stating regarding the latter that “for forty years, he was a
valued counselor to the local chapter….at one time, he was president of the national
organization.” Both Bowdoin and Zeta Psi benefited from his wise counsel.

Brother Cousens’ son, Lyman A. Cousens, Jr., Lambda 1929, followed him into the
Fraternity.