The Eberly Gift

In March 2004, the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to re-name one of the University's campuses to honor a family's longtime unprecedented and tremendous support. Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus, recognizes the philanthropic and leadership contributions of the Eberly family of Uniontown.

Two months later, on May 19, Robert E. Eberly died at the age of 85. He and his wife, Elouise Eberly, made gifts totaling more than $40 million to various programs and units of the University.

Robert Eberly and his father, Orville, played leading roles in convincing Penn State 's Board of Trustees to establish the Fayette campus in 1965 and in securing the local support necessary to build and sustain the campus.

Over the years, the Eberly family contributed about $22.3 million to support scholarships, building construction, faculty endowments, and other initiatives at the campus.

At University Park , the Eberly College of Science was named to recognize the family's generosity in 1990. Four years earlier, as part of a $10 million gift for science, research, and instruction, the Eberlys directed $8 million to endow eight faculty chairs in the College. It was the first time in all of American higher education philanthropy that an academic college received, in a single gift, endowed chairs for every one of its departments.

The Eberly Family, including Robert Eberly's sisters, Carolyn Blaney and Margaret George, has contributed major gifts to Penn State over more than half a century.