Lehigh Carbon Community College has renamed the Student Union at its main campus to the Byron L. Shoemaker Student Union, in honor of a generous contribution that will provide scholarships to students.

The Byron L. Shoemaker Foundation and its trustees, Jim M. Wood, Nancy L. Matyascik and Richard A. Cassar, established the scholarship in Shoemaker’s memory with a gift in excess of $300,000 in November 2017.

Shoemaker, a native of Lehighton who also lived in Pottstown and Macungie before settling in Allentown, died in February 2017.

He was a 1969 graduate of Lehighton Area High School and of Lebanon Valley College. He also earned his MBA from Lehigh University, and he was a strong believer in the community college mission.

Shoemaker was a certified public accountant, working with Dreslin & Company, then with Cappelletti, Shoemaker & Co., and finally as a sole practitioner.

He is survived by his husband, Jim Wood, along with two sisters and nieces and nephews.

“We’re thrilled that LCCC’s administration is so focused on the needs of students and the needs of the school,” Wood said during the dedication ceremony April 20.

The Shoemaker Scholarship will be given to students from the Lehigh Valley and Lehighton who major in health care, accounting, business administration, business management or education. Recipients can be either a recent high school graduate or returning adult. Funds will be disbursed beginning in fall 2018.

“Mr. Shoemaker’s memory and his legacy will live on here at the college through the scholarship and, now, through the Student Union,” LCCC president Dr. Ann D. Bieber said. “He valued education, and the generosity of his family will impact the communities that were important to him.

For information on the scholarship, contact Silvia Maldonado-Vargas, executive director of the LCCC Foundation, at smaldonadovargas@LCCC.edu or 610-799-1711.