Lehigh Receives Largest Gift in Its History

Business Wire, May 16, 2008

Bequest Will Provide Access to Educational Opportunities to Deserving Students in Perpetuity

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Lehigh University announced today a record $34.2 million gift from the estate of alumnus Donald B. Stabler, Class of 1930, a successful businessman who dedicated much of his life to leadership and service. The largest gift in its history will enable the University to provide talented students far greater access to a Lehigh education, regardless of their financial circumstances.

With this bequest, the Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund will in perpetuity support an even greater number of students who demonstrate a financial need. Since 1965, when the scholarship fund was first established, the Stablers' generosity and financial support have benefited hundreds of students.

"This is a transformational day for our university and for the countless number of students who will benefit in the coming years from this incredible gift," said Lehigh President Alice P. Gast. "Mr. Stabler's unwavering dedication to Lehigh and to providing educational opportunities to deserving students has now become an enduring legacy through the Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund."

In addition to the Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund, Donald Stabler and his wife, the former Dorothy L. Witwer whom he married in 1952, funded the Stabler Teaching Award and the Dorothy L. Stabler Tower Room of Iacocca Hall on Lehigh's Mountaintop Campus. They were also the lead donors to the Stabler Athletic and Convocation Center, dedicated in December 1979. The facility, one of the largest of its kind in the East when it was built, provides a venue for athletic events, graduations, reunions, and entertainment for both Lehigh University and residents of the Lehigh Valley.

Donald Stabler was a member of Lehigh's Board of Trustees for more than 30 years, serving as a corporate member and as a chairman of the Development Committee. During his two-year term as president of Lehigh's alumni association, he traveled almost 20,000 miles to visit 30 alumni clubs, more than any other alumni president. In 1972, he received the New York Alumni Club's prestigious "L-in-Life Award."

Stabler earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1930 and a master's in civil engineering in 1932, both from Lehigh. As a Lehigh student, he was involved in wrestling, the student branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers, honorary fraternity Pi Delta Epsilon, the Freshman Handbook, the Lehigh Review, and the Senior Cabinet.

After graduation, Stabler worked with a Harrisburg, PA., contractor for $15 a week. In 1940, with just $1,300 in savings, Stabler founded the Stabler Construction Company in Harrisburg. The company grew into Stabler Companies Inc., which included 13 subsidiaries involved in businesses such as highway construction; quarrying of stone, sand, and gravel; bituminous and Portland cement concrete manufacturing; the manufacture, sale, and servicing of highway safety equipment; and real estate development.

Stabler relied on the keen judgment and business sense of several other prominent Lehigh alumni who served on the board of directors of Stabler Companies Inc. for many years: Edward G. Uhl '40, David H. Schaper '43, William C. Hittinger '44, the late Harold S. Mohler '48, William L. Clayton '51, and Robert M. McCann '52.

Stabler served as chairman of the board of Stabler Companies Inc. until his death on December 30, 1997. On his death, his wife became a vice president and director of Stabler Companies Inc. and its subsidiaries. She passed away in February 2005. Stabler Companies Inc., was sold to the New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc. in January 2008.

In 1965, after the Stabler's teenage daughter Beverly, suffered traumatic head injuries in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, they founded the Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation to support central Pennsylvania colleges, hospitals and numerous other charities.

Stabler received a number of honorary degrees in recognition of his business success and philanthropy. In 1974, Lehigh awarded him an honorary doctorate (LL.D.). In 1981, the Dickinson School of Law awarded him an honorary of Doctorate of Laws (LL.D.). In 1995, Susquehanna University awarded both Donald and Dorothy Stabler honorary doctorates (LH.D.).

Stabler's father grew up on a Pennsylvania farm and later attended business school, becoming a circulation director for Grit magazine. Stabler was proud of his humble roots and attributed his success 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," he 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."

Stabler believed his hard-won personal experience, coupled with his Lehigh education, helped him achieve his success. "I credit Lehigh for instilling in me the ability to think, that is, to be able to set