
Ms. Oler's gift will create a memorial to her brother, Glenn Thomson, a 1931 graduate who died in 1994. Both gifts will help fund the building of a clubhouse, to be constructed from a historic barn on the site. Thomson and Shaeffer were tennis partners on Penn State's 1931 team, and the clubhouse named in their honor will recognize their partnership and 60-year friendship.
A loyal supporter of several Penn State programs, Thomson was especially committed to the tennis program. With Shaeffer, he helped establish a varsity tennis endowment, which provides funds for varsity tennis scholarships and for other Penn State tennis activities. The market value of that endowment is more than $500,000.
A 1933 liberal arts graduate, Shaeffer is a retired chairman and consultant of T. Rowe Price Associates. A former member of Penn State's Board of Trustees, he has established two scholarship funds in The Smeal College of Business Administration and has supported such projects as the Indoor Sports Complex and The Bryce Jordan Center.
In 1973, Shaeffer was named a Penn State Alumni Fellow and a Distinguished Alumnus.
The University has scheduled construction for the $1.5 million tennis center to begin in late 1996.
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