A passion for math, a lifetime of generosity

By Madeline Marriott ’24

Richard Thayer ’61 is a numbers guy. 

His passion for mathematics launched a decades-long career in statistics that spanned the private sector and higher education. Now, he’s focused on giving back to the school that changed his life to ensure it can do the same for today’s students. 

“Lafayette meant so much to me as a student,” Thayer says. “I really grew up when I was there and found out who I was. Now that I have the ability to give back, this is where I want it to go every year.” 

Thayer came to Lafayette after attending Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in Maryland for high school. He was looking for a change of pace after growing up in a major city and found himself atop the “lovely little mountain” of College Hill. 

There, he majored in mathematics and joined Zeta Psi fraternity, where he managed the culinary operations for two years. He also sang in the college choir under the direction of John Raymond and served as a church elder. 

“These things are what really made Lafayette a full experience for me,” he says. “I wasn’t just a student, I was a person learning how to manage my responsibilities, and I did things that I thought were constructive and supported the College.”

Richard Thayer ’61

After graduation, he went on to Rutgers University to earn his master’s in statistics. There, he met his wife, Dottie, who enrolled in the program at the same time. She had recently graduated from Purdue University as an industrial engineer—the only woman in her class. 

The couple married in 1963, and Thayer continued his education, earning a Ph.D. in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute while Dottie began her career in teaching at Radford College and then in educational testing.

Thayer enjoyed a long career at AT&T, working as a district manager with a focus on forecast, market research, and total quality management before retiring from the corporate world. He then spent two decades teaching statistics, mathematics, and operations research at the College of New Jersey. He fully retired at 75 and spent years traveling and enjoying the outdoors with Dottie until her passing in 2024. 

Having no children of his own, Thayer has made it his mission to help students at Lafayette and beyond have the chance to fully experience college in the same way he did. He recently established a scholarship in Dottie’s name at her alma mater, Purdue University, and funds a scholarship at Lafayette for a student studying mathematics. He has also helped to fund a regular choir trip to Ireland. 

“It was a lot more difficult to get on a plane to Ireland when I was at Lafayette, but between semesters the choir took trips to New England and to the Pittsburgh area, and we’d pack the 60 of us onto the bus, stay where we could, and have a great time,” he recalls. 

The majority of Thayer’s support for Lafayette stems from planned gifts. For the last several years, he has contributed his annual IRA withdrawals to the College. This allows for tax savings while contributing vital funding to the College. 

“Making a gift through an IRA is one of the simplest and most tax-efficient ways to support the College,” explains Joe Samaritano ’91, director of Planned Giving. “A qualified charitable distribution allows alumni to use their required minimum distribution to make a meaningful impact without increasing their taxable income. It’s a smooth, paperwork-light process that many alumni, parents, and friends tell us feels both easy and deeply rewarding.”