A Peters Couple Donates $34 Million to WVU

WVU President Jim Clements announced Thursday a Peters Township couple will donate $34 million to West Virginia University, the largest gift ever donated to the college.

Benjamin and Jo Statler Thursday pledged $34 million at a special ceremony at the Erickson Alumni Center.

West Virginia University’s engineering and mineral resources school will be named the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

“This is an extraordinary gift from extraordinary people,” Clements said in a statement. “Ben and Jo Statler’s ties to WVU go back to their childhoods when they met in 4-H and through their many gifts those ties will go on forever. From health care, to athletics, to academics, the Statlers have been extremely generous in helping WVU help others.

“As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the land-grant university, this gift will help us to fulfill our land-grant promise of changing lives through education and changing the world through innovation.”

Over the years, the Statlers have supported many WVU initiatives including the comprehensive breast cancer program at WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center; the new Erickson Alumni Center building; the Basketball Practice Facility and other athletics capital improvements, including the Coliseum scoreboards.

The direct impact of their lifetime of support to WVU, including Thursday's gift announcement, is nearly $60 million.

Plans for the money include building a research facility, endowing three academic chairs and establishing scholarships for undergraduates in engineering.

Statler said he believes West Virginia is blessed “with a wealth of natural and human resources.”

“While Jo and I are pleased to be in a position to make this commitment, our goal with this gift is not merely to provide financial support to the university and the state, but rather to identify areas that could have a meaningful and long-lasting impact on WVU and on the lives of West Virginians,” he said at Thursday's ceremony.

“We believe that our university should lead the nation in areas such as energy research and engineering,” he added. “We’re confident that the faculty, staff and students, whose efforts these funds will help support, are the ones who will turn the vision behind our gift into reality.”

The Statlers have received numerous honors, including Most Loyal West Virginians, the WVU Foundation’s Outstanding Philanthropists Award and the Milan Puskar Award.

In 2009, they each received honorary doctorates from WVU during commencement ceremonies.

A third generation coal miner, Ben Statler received his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from WVU in 1973.

While attending WVU, he began his career at CONSOL Energy, working as a laborer.

For 30 years, he held various positions at CONSOL Energy before starting his own mining company, PinnOak Resources LLC. Statler served as president and CEO of PinnOak until he sold the company in 2007.

Currently, Statler is co-founder and CEO of Gulf Coast Capital Partners, a private investment firm founded in 2008 that is focused on acquiring and providing capital to middle market companies in special situations.

He has served on the advisory committee for WVU’s Department of Mining Engineering and was named to the WVUFoundation Board of Directors in August 2008.

Jo Statler, who worked for WVU’s School of Dentistry, has been a strong supporter. She helped launch Bonnie’s Bus, which provides digital mammography services to women in remote areas of West Virginia.

The bus is named after Jo’s mother, Bonnie Wells Wilson, who died of breast cancer.

The Statlers spend their time between McMurray and Naples, FL.

They are the parents of two children, Julie and Ben II, and the grandparents of three grandsons.