Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has announced a $34.2 million bequest from the estate of alumnus and former university board member Donald B. Stabler to provide scholarships to students with demonstrated financial need.

The gift — the largest in the university's history — will augment the Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Endowed Scholarship Fund, which the Stablers established in 1965. Since its establishment, the fund has helped some two hundred and fifty students attend Lehigh, including thirty-two current Stabler Scholars. In addition to the scholarship fund, the Stablers previously provided support for the Stabler Teaching Award, the Dorothy L. Stabler Tower Room of Iacocca Hall on Lehigh's Mountaintop Campus, and the Stabler Athletic and Convocation Center.

"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."