Thomas E. Taplin ’42 was a very thoughtful Tiger. Son of the owner and president of the coal-hauling Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad, brother of Frank E. Taplin Jr. ’37 (whose gifts to the University include Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall) and father of Frank F. Taplin ’82, Taplin inherited a love of railroads from his father and shared a deep affection for Princeton with his brother and son.

Taplin set up a charitable remainder trust at Princeton in 1984 with $400,000. During his lifetime, Taplin received quarterly payments of 5% of the trust’s value each year, which grew substantially over more than two decades. When the trust terminated this year, it was valued at more than $2.3 million—almost six times its original value.

These funds are now being incorporated into a scholarship fund Taplin set up in 1996 that has benefited nine students to date. Thanks to this gift and its growth over the years, as well as an unrestricted cash bequest of $700,000, Taplin’s scholarship fund will be able to help many more Princeton students.