College honors Shenandoah man, renames library in his honor

LANCASTER – A library at a college in the Red Rose City is now named after a native son of the Heart of the Anthracite.

Thomas P. Mervine, a 1957 graduate of the J.W. Cooper Memorial High School in Shenandoah, committed to donate more than $5 Million from his estate to Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

He is a 1960 graduate of the Lancaster-based college’s graphic design and printing technology program.

“I never would have been able to reach the success I did, or even go to school, without the access to education Thaddeus Stevens College and the state of Pennsylvania provided to me,” Mervine said. “When I realized what a great opportunity I was given, I wanted to give that same opportunity to others.”

Monday afternoon, the library at Thaddeus Stevens was named in his honor. Board members, alumni, and campus leaders held a ribbon-cutting as well.

“Our institution is known for our outcomes – graduates with good jobs, rapidly advancing in their careers, and making wages to help their families thrive,” said Pedro A. Rivera II, Ed.D., president of the college. “When our grads see the difference we made in their lives, and intentionally come back to make a difference in the lives of our future students, it not only comes full circle, it lives out the legacy of Thaddeus Stevens himself.”

While he was enrolled at Thaddeus Stevens College, Mervine lived in Cottage B, which is now the site of the college’s library and learning resources center. While the building has been enlarged and converted, the exterior brick still reflects the era in which Mervin attended.

Mervine’s gift will be partly distributed upon his death, and then completed upon the dissolution of his estate.

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