The Toyota Auditorium in the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy was named in recognition of Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda’s gift of $2 million to help fund the building. Toyoda was honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, founded by his father. He visited the Baker Center during construction of the building in 2008. He joined Toyota in 1952 and held various management positions over the years. Along the way, he earned a doctorate in engineering. He became president of the Toyota Motor Corporation upon the merger of the sales and production organizations in 1982 and later served as chairman from 1992 to 1999. Toyoda became honorary chairman of Toyota in 1999.