YSU gets $1.5 million endowment

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The daughters of successful late Mahoning Valley businessman Paul J. Thomas have donated $1.5 million to establish a full professor faculty position in economics at Youngstown State University in honor of their father.

YSU President Jim Tressel thanked the Thomases for their support for YSU students.

“This gift ... will have significant impact on our students and community for years to come,” he said. “It is through these kinds of gifts that our faculty become stronger, our academics more relevant and our students more successful.”

The individual for the position will be named at a later date.

Gwen (Thomas) Watson said her father would have been proud of the contribution to YSU.

“We believe he would be pleased with the direction the university is headed and especially with all the positive influence YSU has had on Youngstown itself,” she said.

Kristine Blair, YSU College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences dean, said on behalf of the college she is immensely grateful.

“This generous gift will so positively impact the already substantial research profile of the department of economics,” she said.

This is the fourth academic position in CLASS funded via gift to the “We See Tomorrow” campaign.

Paul J. Thomas, born and raised in Niles, attended Niles City Schools and Lawrenceville Preparatory School, where he graduated as class valedictorian, according to a release provided by YSU. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and continued his education at Boston University and Ohio State University. In 1939, he joined the firm that would eventually become Packer Thomas as a certified public accountant. He joined the Navy during World War II, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters and earning the rank of lieutenant.

After the war, he returned to the Mahoning Valley and went on to a business career of distinction, including work as vice president of Superior Industries and vice president of Easco Corp. He served on the boards of the Ohio Bank Corp., McKinley Bank and WKBN Television.

He also was a trustee for many area nonprofit organizations, including the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., the Mahoning County Library System and the Butler Institute of American Art.

In 1981, Thomas and his wife, Marguerite, established the Paul J. and Marguerite K. Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise at YSU. The Colloquium provides lectures and workshops by recognized leaders in business, economics and finance. The Thomases have also funded scholarships for YSU Economics majors and for YSU Accounting and Finance majors.

Thomas died in 2003; his wife in 2007.