Donald Tresidder

Donald Bertrand Tresidder (April 7, 1894 – January 28, 1948) was the fourth president of Stanford University.

Donald Tresidder

Son of Dr. John Treloar Tresidder (from Cornwall), 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. While attending medical school he was a member of Phi Chi Medical Fraternity.^[1]

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 practices. He established a scholarship program and helped established Stanford Research Institute. Tresidder also abolished the sorority system on campus.

Every Stanford president is automatically invited to join the Bohemian Club, and Tresidder accepted. Membership gave Tresidder access to a wider range of powerful men, skilled in political campaigns and in fundraising.^[2]

For many years, Tresidder played the role of the Squire at the Bracebridge Dinner, a lavish Christmas feast which was held every Christmas Day at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. His wife played the role of Lady Bracebridge. It was Tresidder who, in 1929, asked photographer Ansel Adams to take over as director of the Dinner, which Adams agreed to do.

Tresidder died of a heart attack at St. Regis Hotel in New York City, while on University business.

Tresidder Peak (10,600', 3231 m, 37°50′N 119°25′W / 37.83°N 119.42°W / 37.83; -119.42) in Yosemite National Park is named after him, as is the student union building at Stanford University.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stayed in the Ahwahnee Hotel's sixth-floor Tresidder suite in 1983. [1]

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).
• New book recounts life of Stanford's fourth president at www.stanford.edu

References

1. ^ Cannon, Daniel H. (1989). The History of Phi Chi Medical Fraternity Inc. Centennial Edition 1889-1989. Phi Chi Quarterly Office. 
2. ^ O'Mara, Margaret Pugh. Cities of Knowledge, Princeton University Press, 2005, p. 108. ISBN 0691117160

Academic offices
Preceded by Ray L. Wilbur	President of Stanford University 1943–1948	Succeeded by Alvin C. Eurich (Acting)

Persondata
Name	Tresidder, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 7, 1894
Place of birth
Date of death	January 28, 1948
Place of death