The family of Dr. G. Thomas Raper is celebrating his memory with a planned scholarship gift to support WVU School of Medicine MD students from Appalachia.
Healing, hard work and humility defined the life of late West Virginia University School of Medicine alumnus Dr. G. Thomas Raper. More than 80 years after he finished his studies, his family is celebrating his memory with a planned scholarship gift to empower future physicians from Appalachia.
James McLean and Patricia Raper Rogers, of Bahama, North Carolina, recently committed to a significant planned gift that will establish the G. Thomas Raper, M.D. Fund. The scholarship will benefit WVU medical degree students with demonstrated financial need who reside in any of 13 Appalachian states, including West Virginia.
“I hope this scholarship makes it possible for men and women from Appalachia to achieve their dream of being able to heal people,” Patti Rogers said. “There are still a lot of places in the Appalachian area where there are not a lot of possibilities. I want people who have the talent but are held back by funding to achieve the same kind of success in life that Dad had. And I hope it might tempt some of them to stay in West Virginia.”
Scholarships are increasingly important to make medical school accessible and affordable for many Mountain State families as new federal loan caps take effect this summer. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in 2025, limits student borrowing to $50,000 a year and $200,000 lifetime for MD students.
“We are so thankful for the Raper family generosity to support scholarships for our students. through this legacy gift,” Dr. Norman Ferrari III, chief academic officer and vice dean for medical education and academic affairs at the WVU School of Medicine, said. “Scholarships do more than relieve the crushing financial burden of medical education; they ensure that a student’s potential to heal is never limited by their ability to pay.”
The Rogers gift stems from a request Raper shared with his daughter before he died in May 2009. He asked her to give any remaining estate funds to WVU. She was surprised because he wasn’t a sentimental man, and he didn’t like giving money away.
Dr. G. Thomas Raper
Yet, Rogers knew WVU meant a lot to her dad. She came to Morgantown with him once for a visit, and she was awed by his reaction.
“We got on campus, and he was like a kid in a candy store,” Rogers said. “He was going from building to building, telling stories about this time and that time. This was not my father. It was the only time in his long life I ever saw him full of wonder. It was truly amazing.”
A native of rural Browns Run in Ohio County, Raper came to WVU at his father’s behest. He sought a life beyond manual labor for his son and told Raper he was going to medical school.
Raper was drafted into the U.S. Army as a medical student in 1942, after finishing his undergraduate studies at WVU. He completed what was then a two-year program in 1944 and finished his medical degree at Temple University.
The Army sent Raper for specialty training focused on dermatology and sexually transmitted diseases, which often begin with skin symptoms, to address emerging needs. He was discharged in 1946 and spent two years as a general practice physician in Vincennes, Indiana, before settling in Clearwater, Florida.
Raper focused his practice on dermatology, although he later treated allergies, too. Rogers said the two specialties paired well because allergies sometimes present as skin issues and vice versa.
Rogers said her dad was a gifted diagnostician with a talent for noticing important details. He was naturally curious, and he also excelled as a welder, plumber, and fisherman.
“It was the quality of what he did when he put his energies into anything that mattered to him,” she said. “He didn’t think he was anything extraordinary.”
Rogers said her father provided no direction as to how she should support WVU, telling her she would know what to do when the time came. She’s confident he would be proud of her planned scholarship gift.
“Dad came from hardscrabble; he didn’t have money,” Rogers said. “You don’t have to be somebody from a big place, and you don’t have to have big, important money in order to achieve your dreams. There are people out there willing to help. It makes me feel good that Dad would be very pleased about that.”
The Rogers planned gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University and its affiliated entities.