Ray Lyman Wilbur - Stanford

Stanford

He first became a member of Stanford's faculty in 1896 as an instructor in physiology. In 1900 he was made an assistant professor while carrying on a busy medical practice; he was the only physician in the university community. From 1903 to 1909 he practiced medicine fulltime. In 1909 he became a professor of medicine and in 1911 he was named Dean of the new Stanford University School of Medicine, located at the former Cooper Medical College where Wilbur had received his M.D. degree. He served as Dean until 1916. In 1916 he was elected to serve as president of Stanford, continuing in that position until 1943, including during his period as Secretary of the Interior. Upon his inauguration as president he said that he intended to devote the rest of his life to Stanford, and he did. From his retirement as president in 1943 until his death in 1949, he served as the university's chancellor. Among his most notable stances while at Stanford were his opposition to fraternities and to automobiles on campus. He reorganized graduate education, established the Lower Division, introduced Independent Study, and grouped academic departments within the Schools of the university. He launched the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Food Research Institute.

Wilbur served as President of the American Medical Association from 1923 to 1924. His son, Dwight Locke Wilbur, followed in his footsteps as President of the AMA in 1968-1969. Wilbur belonged to several private men's clubs, including the Bohemian Club, the Pacific-Union Club, the Commonwealth Club and the University Club in San Francisco.

When the California Legislature established the State Park Commission in 1927, Wilbur was named to the original commission, along with Major Frederick Russell Burnham, W. F. Chandler, William Edward Colby, and Henry W. O'Melveny.