This Friday, April 10, marks 100 years since the birth of William H. Danforth, the transformative visionary who led WashU from 1971 until 1995. During his tenure, WashU endowed 70 new faculty professorships; constructed dozens of new buildings; tripled the number of student scholarships and grew the endowment to one of the largest in the nation.
But his greatest accomplishment, Danforth claimed, was not the university’s ascension from commuter college to world-renowned research institution, but the 60,000 WashU students who graduated during his 24-year tenure.
When asked once by a young alumnus what he would like to be most remembered for, Danforth replied: “You — that’s what I would most like to be remembered for — the lives of the young people who have gone to Washington University during my time as chancellor.”
Danforth died Sept. 16, 2020, at age 94.
Here, the Record looks back at Danforth’s life and lasting impact on WashU. To read more about Danforth, visit the Remembering Bill Danforth website.
Chancellor Danforth, MD, poses with students at homecoming in 1994. Reflecting on Danforth’s leadership, David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, said that Danforth was both ambitious and humble. “He understood that commitment means believing that there is no limit to what you can accomplish and that, at the same time, accomplishment is always incremental and only possible by bringing together many individuals to shared aspirations. He put in the time and the commitment and we are all the better for it. It is hard to fathom how one person could have fostered so much good in the people around him.” (Photo: WashU Archives) Danforth graduated from St. Louis Country Day School and spent a brief time at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., before transferring to Princeton and graduating in 1947. He then graduated from Harvard Medical School. He completed an internship at Barnes Hospital and spent two years as a Navy doctor during the Korean War, then he returned to WashU for good. (Photo: WashU Archives)William H. Danforth married Elizabeth Anne (Ibby) Gray Danforth (1929–2005) in 1950. (Photo: WashU Archives)Chancellor Graduate Fellows gathered with Danforth (center) in 2016 to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary. During Danforth’s tenure, people associated with WashU won 10 Nobel Prizes, two Pulitzer Prizes and innumerable other prestigious honors. (Photo: Joe Angeles/WashU)“Washington University is, of course, an important national educational contributor, but let me give you another set of reasons, more abstract, perhaps more personal. I believe that Washington University is one of this community’s contributions to mankind. A successful university is a noble institution. It is a statement of faith; faith that human beings can be educated and that human thought is worthwhile, that the thinking, analyzing animal called man can use his unique talents for the benefit of himself and his fellows; that we can learn from our past; that we can change; that by intelligence we can improve our lot and the lot of our children and their children.” –- William Danforth, Founders’ Day Address, 1972. (Photo: WashU Archives)At every first-year student orientation, Danforth, affectionately known as “Chan Dan” to generations of students, would read bedtime stories to new students. (Photo: WashU Archives)After stepping down as chancellor, Danforth went on to serve as chairman of WashU’s Board of Trustees and founded the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. (Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU)Danforth (center), the university’s 13th chancellor, joined Mark S. Wrighton (right), the university’s 14th chancellor, at the inauguration of its 15th chancellor, Andrew D. Martin in 2019. “Anyone who has ever been in the presence of Bill Danforth knows how special he was and how much he cared for this place and the people who have resided, studied and worked here,” Martin said upon Danforth’s passing. (Photo: Joe Angeles/WashU)
