Ray Lyman Wilbur (April 13, 1875 – June 26, 1949) was an American
medical doctor
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
who served as the third president of
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and as the 31st
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...
under President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
, also a Stanford alum.
Early and personal life
Wilbur was born in
Boonesboro, Iowa, the son of attorney and businessman Dwight Locke Wilbur and the former Edna Maria Lyman.
He was raised with a brother,
Curtis D. Wilbur, who served as the
U.S. Secretary of the Navy under President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
, and was a judge of the
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...
. The Wilbur family moved to
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...
, when Ray Lyman was twelve.
[Ray L. Wilbur Dies at Stanford at 74, The New York Times, June 27, 1949]
Wilbur graduated from
Riverside High School, then studied at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, receiving a
B.A. degree in 1896 and an
M.A. degree in 1897. He then studied at
Cooper Medical College in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
(then of the
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, now the medical school of Stanford), receiving a
Doctor of Medicine
A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...
degree in 1899.
While a freshman at his Stanford home, Wilbur met future President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
, who was drumming up business on campus for a local laundry.
The two men became lifelong friends.
On December 5, 1898, Wilbur married the former Marguerite May Blake, who was a college friend of
Lou Hoover, Herbert Hoover's wife.
[Mrs RL Wilbur is Close Friend of First Lady, Atlanta Constitution, March 11, 1929] 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.
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 of the new
Stanford University School of Medicine
The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...
, located at the former Cooper Medical College, where Wilbur had received his M.D. degree.
He served as the dean until 1916.
In 1916, he was chosen to serve as president of Stanford and continued in that position until 1943, including during his tenure as
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.
From his retirement as president in 1943 until his death in 1949, he served as the University's
chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
. During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Wilbur served as a chief of the conservation division of the
United States Food Administration.
[Ray Lyman Wilbur Taken By Death, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 27, 1949] While at the USFA, he coined the slogan "Food Will Win the War."
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
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...
and the Food Research Institute.
Among his most notable stances while at Stanford were his opposition to
fraternities
A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...
and to automobiles on campus.
Wilbur served as the President of the
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...
from 1923 to 1924. In 1923, he was one of the doctors called in to consult when President
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...
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 and the University Club in San Francisco.
[Dulfer & Hoag]
''Our Society Blue Book''
pp. 177–178. San Francisco, Dulfer & Hoag, 1925
When the
California Legislature
The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...
established the State Park Commission in 1927,
Wilbur was named to the original commission, along with
Major
Frederick Russell Burnham
Major (rank), Major Frederick Russell Burnham Distinguished Service Order, DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to t ...
, W. F. Chandler,
William Edward Colby, and
Henry W. O'Melveny.
Secretary of the Interior
On March 5, 1929, President Hoover nominated Wilbur as the
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.
As Interior Secretary, Wilbur addressed corruption in
granting contracts for naval oil reserves, which had caused controversy during the Harding administration's
Teapot Dome
The Teapot Dome scandal was a political corruption scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Warren G. Harding. It centered on Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, who had leased United States Navy, Navy petroleum re ...
scandal. Wilbur promulgated a policy that no new oil leases would be granted to private individuals except when mandated by law.

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.
Wilbur took a particular interest in
Native Americans while in office and reorganized the department's
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
.
He assisted Native Americans in working to become more self-reliant.
New Deal critic
After leaving the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...
in 1933, Wilbur became a vocal critic of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
and was the leading champion of "rugged individualism".
[Ray Lyman Wilbur, ''The Washington Post'', June 28, 1949]
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."
Death and legacy
Wilbur died of
heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
at his
Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
campus home on June 26, 1949, at age 74. He is buried at
Alta Mesa Memorial Park in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
Th ...
.
Hoover eulogized him as "my devoted friend and constant friend since boyhood."
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."

A
dormitory
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...
complex at Stanford University is named after Wilbur.
References
Further reading
*
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)
Paper presented at the Fortnightly Club of Redlands, California, meeting #1530
*''Human Hopes: Addresses & Papers on Education, Citizenship, & Social Problems'', Stanford University Press, 1940
External links
*
*
Ray Lyman Wilbur's papersare housed University Of Iowa Special Collections & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbur, Ray Lyman
1875 births
1949 deaths
People from Boone, Iowa
Presidents of Stanford University
United States secretaries of the interior
American Congregationalists
Hoover administration cabinet members
20th-century American politicians
California Republicans
People from Riverside, California
Stanford University alumni
Presidents of the American Medical Association
American university and college faculty deans
Stanford University School of Medicine faculty