William Mather Lewis

              STEEL PORTRAITURE
-From-
EDITORS NATIONAL PRESS SYNDICATE
329 BOND BUILDING WASHINGTON, D. C.

Wm Mather Lewis


WILLIAM MATHER LEWIS
Lewis, William Mather, president of George Washington University, was born in Howell, Michigan, March 24, 1878, the son of James and Mary (Coe Farrand) Lewis.  He graduated from Lake Forest College (Illinois) in 1900 with the degree of A. B.  He received his A. M. from Illinois College in 1902.

From 1900 to 1903, Mr. Lewis was an instructor at Illinois College.  The following three years he acted as instructor at Lake Forest College.  From 1906 to 1913 he was the Headmaster at Lake Forest Academy.  The last two years of this period he was President of the Board of Education of Lake Forest and from 1909 to 1912 he lectured at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

The years 1913–14 were spent by Mr. Lewis in travelling about England, France and Germany studying the educational systems of those nations.  Upon his return to Lake Forest he was elected Mayor of the city and chosen a member of the Board of Review of Lake County.

These duties occupied his time until the entrance of America into the war in 1917.  He then came to Washington as the executive secretary of the National Committee of Patriotic Societies, which post he occupied during 1917 to 1919.  From 1919 to 1921 he was the director of the Savings Division of the U. S. Treasury Department, handling the sale of War Savings Stamps and developing a National Thrift during the difficult post campaign war period.  In 1921 he became chief of the Education Service of the United States Chamber of Commerce and he also served, in 1923, as a special lecturer for the Colorado State Teachers College.  In 1923 he was chosen President of George Washington University at Washington, D. C.

In addition to serving as Mayor of Lake Forest and as president of the Board of Education there, Mr. Lewis rendered notable public service in the direction of the preparedness movements in Chicago and throughout the Middle West in 1915–16, and as Civilian Advisor to the Moral Division of the Army in 1918.  He is widely known as a lecturer on economic subjects having spoken before Rotary and Kiwanis clubs and Chambers of Commerce as well as educational organizations in all parts of the country.

He is a member of the Cosmos, University and Chevy Chase Clubs of Washington, D. C.; the Sons of the American Revolution, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, the Kiwanis Club and the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.  He served as president of the Washington Alumni Club in 1919–20.  Mr. Lewis is a trustee of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church.

He is the author of various articles for the New York Times and New York Evening Post, the Independent, the Annalist and the Encyclopedia Britannica.  He was editor of the Liberty Loan Speaker's Handbooks and wrote The Heritage of a Soldier's Son and The Voices of our Leaders.

On December 6, 1906 he married Ruth Durand at Lake Forest, Illinois.  They have one child, Sarah Durand Lewis.



WILLIAM MATHER LEWIS