Stabler Foundation gift to create endowed scholarship at College of Medicine

Penn State College of Medicine has received a $1 million gift from The Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation in Harrisburg. It amounts to the largest single contribution the college has ever received for an endowed scholarship.

By supporting deserving students, the Stabler Foundation hopes the impact of its gift will multiply as recipients are encouraged to give back to support future generations of medical trainees at the College of Medicine.

With this recent gift, the Stabler Foundation has contributed more than $6.5 million to advance Penn State Hershey's core missions of education, research, patient care, and community outreach. The foundation's last major commitment supported the construction of the new Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

“With each gift, the Stabler Foundation has demonstrated a firm commitment to build and sustain a healthy community,” said Harold L. Paz, MD, chief executive officer of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Health System, Penn State's senior vice president for health affairs and dean of Penn State College of Medicine. “The foundation's unparalleled level of scholarship support advances our institution's educational mission and solidifies the inspiring legacy of Donald and Dorothy Stabler to increase educational opportunities and ensure that people in central Pennsylvania live healthier lives, now and in the future.”

This latest gift expands the College of Medicine's scholarship endowment to $12 million. Scholarship support is vital to a medical school and ensures that a premier education is accessible to future generations of physicians, scientists, and scholars. Since the first students enrolled in 1968, more than 5,000 students have received medical or graduate degrees from Penn State College of Medicine.

“We believe it is important to support promising physicians and scientists at Penn State College of Medicine. Upon graduation, we hope these leaders will remain in the region so that people in our communities do not have to travel far from home to access the best medical care,” said Dick Zimmerman, a member of the Stabler Foundation Board of Directors and former chief executive officer for The Hershey Company.

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