Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2008 - (Page 4)

giving • religion • political science • commencement • university relations ON CAMPUS giving STABLER GIFT WILL HELP STUDENTS REALIZE THEIR DREAMS Lehigh University wasn’t the only school that helped shape the late Donald B. Stabler ’30, ’32G. He also attributed his success in life to the school of “hard knocks.” “As far as success itself, you have to keep things in proper perspective or else you could get a little impressed with yourself,” Stabler once told Cyril C. Dunmire Jr., who succeeded Stabler as chairman, CEO, and treasurer of Stabler Companies Inc. “I came up the hard way. That’s the best way. I never had a silver spoon and I like it that way. You recognize everything for what it is.” One of the things that Stabler and his wife, Dorothy L. Stabler, always recognized was the value of a Lehigh education. “I credit Lehigh for instilling in me the ability to think, that is, to be able to set my brain to work,” he said in a Lehigh Career Services newsletter in 1984. “Lehigh taught me the basics, including how and where to get the answers, then made it clear that only I could exercise the reasoning necessary to get results.” Thanks to Stabler’s historic generosity, students for generations to come will be able to attend Lehigh—regardless of their financial circumstances. In May, Lehigh President Alice P. Gast accepted a record $34.2 million gift on behalf of the university from Stabler’s estate. The bequest, which is the largest single gift in Lehigh’s history, will enable the Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund “to give students the amazing gift of a Lehigh education,” Dunmire said during the presentation ceremony, held in the Rotunda of Linderman Library. “This gift will enable deserving young people who could only dream of studying at 4 lehigh alumni bulletin Donald Stabler and his wife, the former Lehigh to realize these dreams,” Gast said. Dorothy L. Witwer, whom he married in “Most importantly, armed with what they 1952, funded the Stabler Teaching Award and learn at Lehigh, Stabler Scholars will make a the Dorothy L. Stabler Tower Room of Iadiscernible difference in the world.” cocca Hall on Lehigh’s Mountaintop Campus. As alumni, trustees, university leaders, They were also the lead donors to the Stabler faculty, staff, and students applauded and Athletic and Convocation Center, dedicated cheered, Dunmire presented Gast an oversized in December 1979. The facility, one of the check for $34.2 million. largest of its kind in the East when it was The Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund was established built, provides a venue for athletic events, by the Stablers in 1965. Through the decades, graduations, reunions, and entertainment for the scholarship fund has helped some 250 students attend Lehigh. Currently, there are 32 Stabler Scholars at Lehigh. “We believe we’ll be able to double or triple the number of current Stabler Scholars,” Gast said during a press conference following the announcement. That means 60 to 90 current students will now benefit from the need-based scholarship, the amount of which varies depending on a student’s financial circumstances. Referring to Stabler, Dunmire said: “He believed in the power of education, and that each generation should extend a helping hand to those that followed. He and Mrs. Stabler lived this ideal through their personal giving and through the work of the Stabler Foundation.” In addition to the Stabler Cyril Dunmire (right), former chairman, CEO, and treasurer of Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund, Companies Inc., shakes hands with Lehigh President Alice P. Gast. PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS BENEDICT

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Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2008 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Cover Story: The Dalai Lama at Lehigh Heart of a Champion Around the World in 80 Years Fighting for Children wth Autism Keepers of the Flame From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News The Last Word

Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2008

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