{{short description|American educator, physician, and Secretary of Interior. (1875–1949)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ray Wilbur | image = Ray Lyman Wilbur family photo.jpg | order = 3rd | title = President of [[Stanford University]] | term_start = March 4, 1933 | term_end = June 30, 1943 | predecessor = [[Robert E. Swain]] {{small|(Acting)}} | successor = [[Donald Tresidder]] | term_start1 = January 22, 1916 | term_end1 = March 5, 1929 | predecessor1 = [[John Casper Branner|John Branner]] | successor1 = [[Robert E. Swain]] {{small|(Acting)}} | office2 = 31st [[United States Secretary of the Interior]] | president2 = [[Herbert Hoover]] | term_start2 = March 5, 1929 | term_end2 = March 4, 1933 | predecessor2 = [[Roy Owen West|Roy West]] | successor2 = [[Harold L. Ickes]] | birth_name = Ray Lyman Wilbur | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|4|13}} | birth_place = [[Boone, Iowa|Boonesboro, Iowa]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1949|6|26|1875|4|13}} | death_place = [[Stanford, California]], U.S. | resting_place = [[Alta Mesa Memorial Park]] | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | spouse = {{marriage|Marguerite Blake|December 5, 1898|December 24, 1946|end=died}} | children = 5, including [[Blake Colburn Wilbur|Blake]] and [[Dwight Locke Wilbur|Dwight]] | alma_mater = [[Stanford University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])<br>[[University of California, San Francisco]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]]) }}
'''Ray Lyman Wilbur''' (April 13, 1875 – June 26, 1949) was an American [[medical doctor]] who served as the third president of [[Stanford University]] and as the 31st [[United States Secretary of the Interior]] under President [[Herbert Hoover]], also a Stanford alum.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4085368 |title=Ray Lyman Wilbur, president of Stanford University, papers, 1914-1951 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=Searchworks Catalog |publisher=Stanford Libraries |access-date=2023-07-12 |quote=}}</ref>
==Early and personal life== Wilbur was born in [[Boone, Iowa|Boonesboro, Iowa]], the son of attorney and businessman Dwight Locke Wilbur and the former Edna Maria Lyman.<ref name = "Lane">{{cite web|url=http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect5.html|title=Ray Lyman Wilbur (1875-1949)|work=Lane Library|access-date=25 November 2012|archive-date=10 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110043154/http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect5.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was raised with a brother, [[Curtis D. Wilbur]], who served as the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|U.S. Secretary of the Navy]] under President [[Calvin Coolidge]], and was a Chief Justice of the [[Supreme Court of California]]. The Wilbur family moved to [[Riverside, California]], when Ray Lyman was twelve.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ray L. Wilbur Dies at Stanford at 74, The New York Times, June 27, 1949</ref>
Wilbur graduated from [[Riverside Polytechnic High School|Riverside High School]], then studied at [[Stanford University]], receiving a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] degree in 1896 and an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] degree in 1897. He then studied at [[Cooper Medical College]] in [[San Francisco]] (then of the [[University of California, San Francisco]], now the medical school of Stanford), receiving a [[Doctor of Medicine]] degree in 1899.<ref name="memorial">{{cite web|url=http://histsoc.stanford.edu/pdfmem/WilburRL.pdf|title=Memorial Resolution: Ray Lyman Wilbur|date=September 30, 1949|work=Academic Council|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=25 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727075138/http://histsoc.stanford.edu/pdfmem/WilburRL.pdf|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2016 |title=Ray L. Wilbur (1929–1933) |url=https://millercenter.org/president/hoover/essays/wilbur-1929-secretary-of-the-interior#:~:text=He%20began%20his%20education%20at,formed%20a%20life-long%20friendship. |access-date=October 28, 2024 |website=Miller Center |language=en}}</ref>
While a freshman at his Stanford home, Wilbur met future President [[Herbert Hoover]], who was drumming up business on campus for a local laundry.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The two men became lifelong friends.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
On December 5, 1898, Wilbur married the former Marguerite May Blake, who was a college friend of [[Lou Henry Hoover|Lou Hoover]], Herbert Hoover's wife.<ref name="Mrs">Mrs RL Wilbur is Close Friend of First Lady, Atlanta Constitution, March 11, 1929</ref> The couple had five children (Jessica Wilbur Ely, [[Blake Colburn Wilbur]], [[Dwight Locke Wilbur]], Lois Wilbur Hopper, and Ray Lyman Wilbur, Jr.). Marguerite Wilbur died on December 24, 1946, at age 71.<ref>Mrs Ray L. Wilbur, ''The New York Times'', Dec. 25, 1946</ref>
==Stanford University== Wilbur first became a member of Stanford's faculty in 1896, as an instructor in physiology. In 1900, Wilbur was made an assistant professor while simultaneously carrying on a busy medical practice. He was the only physician in the university community.
From 1903 to 1909, Wilbur practiced medicine full-time. In 1909, he became a professor of medicine and in 1911 was named [[Dean (education)|dean]] of the new [[Stanford University School of Medicine]], located at the former Cooper Medical College, where Wilbur had received his M.D. degree.<ref name = "Lane" /> He served as the dean until 1916.<ref name = "memorial" />
In 1916, he was chosen to serve as president of Stanford and continued in that position until 1943, including during his tenure as [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]]. Upon his inauguration as its president, he said that he intended to devote the rest of his life to Stanford, and he did.<ref name = "memorial" /> From his retirement as president in 1943 until his death in 1949, he served as the University's [[chancellor (education)|chancellor]]. During [[World War I]], Wilbur served as a chief of the conservation division of the [[United States Food Administration]].<ref name="RayLyman">Ray Lyman Wilbur Taken By Death, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 27, 1949</ref> While at the USFA, he coined the slogan "Food Will Win the War."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Wilbur reorganized graduate education, established the Lower Division, introduced Independent Study, and regrouped academic departments within the Schools of the University. He launched the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]] and the Food Research Institute.<ref name = "memorial" /> Among his most notable stances while at Stanford were his opposition to [[fraternities]] and to automobiles on campus.<ref>Dr. RL Wilbur, Hoover Cabinet Member, Dies, ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', June 27, 1949</ref>
Wilbur served as the President of the [[American Medical Association]] from 1923 to 1924. In 1923, he was one of the doctors called in to consult when President [[Warren G. Harding#Western travels.2C illness and death|Warren G. Harding]] fell ill in San Francisco, and was present at his deathbed. His son, [[Dwight Locke Wilbur]], later followed in his footsteps as President of the AMA from 1968 until 1969. Wilbur belonged to several private men's clubs, including the [[Bohemian Club]], the [[Pacific-Union Club]], the [[Commonwealth Club of California|Commonwealth Club]] and the University Club in San Francisco.<ref>Dulfer & Hoag. [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/sr25stan.htm ''Our Society Blue Book''], pp. 177–178. San Francisco, Dulfer & Hoag, 1925</ref>
When the [[California Legislature]] established the State Park Commission in 1927,<ref name="sierraclubhist">{{Cite web|url=http://www.valdosta.edu/~tmanning/hon399/mike.htm|title=Climb the mountains and get their good tidings: A History of the Sierra Club|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918002825/http://www.valdosta.edu/~tmanning/hon399/mike.htm|archive-date=2006-09-18}}</ref> Wilbur was named to the original commission, along with<ref name="sierraclub">{{Cite journal|last=Colby|first=William E.|author-link=William Edward Colby|author2=Frederick Law Olmsted|author2-link=Frederick Law Olmsted|date=April 1933|title=Borrego Desert Park|journal=Sierra Club Bulletin|volume=XVIII|pages=144|url=http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/73fall/anza.htm|access-date=2007-07-29|archive-date=2016-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403064637/https://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/73fall/anza.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Major [[Frederick Russell Burnham]], W. F. Chandler, [[William Edward Colby]], and [[O'Melveny & Myers|Henry W. O'Melveny]].
==Secretary of the Interior== On March 5, 1929, President Hoover nominated Wilbur as the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|U.S. Secretary of the Interior]] confirmed by the Senate, and assumed office the same day. His tenure ended on March 4, 1933, as Hoover left office.<ref name=":0" />
As Interior Secretary, Wilbur addressed corruption in [[Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves|granting contracts for naval oil reserves]], which had caused controversy during the Harding administration's [[Teapot Dome]] scandal. Wilbur promulgated a policy that no new oil leases would be granted to private individuals except when mandated by law.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
[[File:Ray Lyman Wilbur with first spike from Boulder Dam cph.3b21644.jpg|thumb|right|Wilbur visits Boulder Dam (c. 1930)]] Wilbur was criticized by political opponents for his allocation of power from [[Boulder Dam]] to private utilities. Opponents also criticized him for renaming the dam Hoover Dam.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Wilbur took a particular interest in [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] while in office and reorganized the department's [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He assisted{{how|date=January 2025}} Native Americans in working to become more self-reliant.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
==New Deal critic== After leaving the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]] in 1933, Wilbur became a vocal critic of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] and was the leading champion of "rugged individualism".<ref name="RayLyman_a">Ray Lyman Wilbur, ''The Washington Post'', June 28, 1949</ref>
He wrote: "It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security. The only animals and birds I know that have economic security are those that have been domesticated—and the economic security they have is controlled by the barbed-wire fence, the butcher's knife and the desire of others. They are milked, skinned, egged or eaten up by their protectors."<ref name="RayLyman_a" />
==Death and legacy== Wilbur died of [[heart disease]] at his [[Stanford, California|Stanford]] campus home on June 26, 1949, at age 74. He is buried at [[Alta Mesa Memorial Park]] in [[Palo Alto, California]].<ref name = "NNDB">{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/693/000167192/|title=Ray Lyman Wilbur|work=NNDB|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> Hoover eulogized him as "my devoted friend and constant friend since boyhood."<ref name="RayLyman" /> He said of Wilbur: "During all his years, including his later chancellorship of Stanford, he has given a multitude of services to the people. Public health and education have been enriched over all these years from his sane statesmanship and rugged intellectual honesty. America is a better place for his having lived in it."<ref name="RayLyman" />
[[File:Wilbur Hall Stanford University.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Wilbur Hall, a student residence on the Stanford University campus.]] A [[dormitory]] complex at Stanford University is named after Wilbur.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *''[https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=83000 The Doctor-President Who Made Stanford Better] '''Stanford Magazine, January 6, 2016''''' *''The Memoirs of Ray Lyman Wilbur 1875-1940'', Stanford University Press, 1960 *Ely, Northcutt. (1994-12-16). [http://www.redlandsfortnightly.org/papers/persgulf.htm "Doctor Ray Lyman Wilbur: Third President of Stanford & Secretary of the Interior."] Paper presented at the Fortnightly Club of Redlands, California, meeting #1530 *''Human Hopes: Addresses & Papers on Education, Citizenship, & Social Problems'', Stanford University Press, 1940 {{Clear}}
==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Commons category-inline|Ray Lyman Wilbur}} * {{Wikiquote-inline}} * [https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/3187 Ray Lyman Wilbur's papers] are housed University Of Iowa Special Collections & Archives {{S-start}} {{S-aca}} {{Succession box| before= [[John Casper Branner|John C. Branner]] | title= [[List of Stanford University people#Presidents|President of Stanford University]] | years= 1916–1943 | after= [[Donald Tresidder|Donald B. Tresidder]] }} {{S-off}} {{U.S. Cabinet official box |before= [[Roy Owen West|Roy O. West]] |after= [[Harold L. Ickes]] |years= March 5, 1929–March 4, 1933 |president= [[Herbert Hoover]] |department= Secretary of the Interior}} {{S-end}} {{USSecInterior}} {{Stanford presidents}} {{Hoover cabinet}} {{American Medical Association Presidents}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbur, Ray Lyman}} [[Category:1875 births]] [[Category:1949 deaths]] [[Category:People from Boone, Iowa]] [[Category:Presidents of Stanford University]] [[Category:United States secretaries of the interior]] [[Category:American Congregationalists]] [[Category:Hoover administration cabinet members]] [[Category:20th-century American politicians]] [[Category:California Republicans]] [[Category:Stanford University alumni]] [[Category:Presidents of the American Medical Association]] [[Category:American university and college faculty deans]] [[Category:Stanford University School of Medicine faculty]] [[Category:Politicians from Riverside, California]] [[Category:Burials at Alta Mesa Memorial Park]]