J.E. Wallace Sterling

J.E. Wallace Sterling was a minister’s son, born August 6, 1906, in Linwood, Ontario. He attended Victoria College, Toronto, receiving his B.A. in 1927. He excelled in football and basketball and later coached these sports while studying for his M.A. at the University of Alberta. After receiving his PhD from Stanford in 1938, Sterling was appointed assistant professor of history at the California Institute of Technology, becoming chairman of the department within seven years. During the same period, and continuing until 1948, he was a regular commentator on the CBS evening network news.

In 1949 Sterling began his nineteen-year presidency of Stanford. On his retirement in 1968, he became the Chancellor, an honorary and advisory position which kept him particularly active in the field of fund raising. During his presidency, Stanford rose from 15th to third place nationally in the number of highly ranked graduate fifteenth programmes.

Honorary degrees were bestowed on him by universities in the United States and Canada. Queen Elizabeth awarded him honorary knighthood in 1976. In addition, he was honoured by Japan, Austria, France and the Federal Republic of Germany.