Donald Tresidder
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Donald Bertrand Tresidder (April 7, 1894–January 28, 1948) was the fourth president of Stanford University.
Tresidder was born in Tipton, Indiana. At the age of 20 he took a trip with his sister to Southern California. However, the railroad tracks were washed out and they went to Yosemite Valley instead. There he met many Stanford faculty, who convinced him to enroll in Stanford University. Biographer Edwin Kiester says that Tresidder "described himself as a gangling youth from the Midwest, wearing a jacket with sleeves too short to cover his long arms, shambling nervously up Palm Drive carrying a battered suitcase. But each student he passed waved and spoke to him cheerfully. At last he encountered President (David Starr) Jordan. The president tipped his broadbrimmed hat, bowed and greeted the young man from Indiana. Tresidder never forgot that welcome."
In Yosemite, Tresidder also met future wife Mary Curry, daughter of the owners of the park concession, Yosemite Park and Curry Company, Tresidder spent summers working in Yosemite as a porter and other various odd jobs. He was briefly fired for taking his future wife rock climbing up the back side of Half Dome. They married June 17, 1920. He earned his M.D. from Stanford Medical School in San Francisco and became president of Yosemite Park and Curry Company.
Dr. Tresidder was president of Stanford University from 1943 until 1948 and brought the school through the difficult years of World War II. He often said that his main job at Stanford was fundraising for the school. Tresidder set up a professional fundraising organization and streamlined administrative and accounting practives. He established a scholarship program and helped established Stanford Research Institute. Tressider also abolished the sorority system on campus. Stanford's student center is named after him. There is also a mountain peak in Yosemite named after him.
Tresidder died of a heart attack at St. Regis Hotel in New York City, while on University business.
Tresidder Peak (10,600', 3231m, ) in Yosemite National Park is named after him, as is the student union building at Stanford University.
[edit] External References
- Biographical sketch (Stanford)
- Edwin Kiester, Jr., Donald Tresidder: Stanford's Overlooked Treasure (Stanford Historical Society, 1992)
- Shirley Sargent, Yosemite’s Innkeepers (1975, 2000).
- http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/92/920811Arc2127.html
| Preceded by Ray L. Wilbur |
President of Stanford University 1943–1948 |
Succeeded by Wallace Sterling |
