In 1957, saddened by the sudden death of Professor of Religious Thought, Dr. Edwin E. Aubrey, his students established a memorial fund. Asked what they liked most about him, they replied: "his intellectual integrity," "an indescribable perfectionism," "excellent lecturing and command of the language," and, "He required a certain amount of empathy—argued for and against each point."

The Edwin E. Aubrey Memorial fund for the acquisition of materials in religious studies is a continuing memorial to a Penn professor who felt that the cornerstone of thought was an open mind.