1913-1997
Educator, Baptist Leader, Civic Servant
Achievement in education, the church, and to society to the caliber of which
was attained by Leslie S. Wright is a rare accomplishment of honor.
Following the relocation of Howard College, Dr. Wright, as the new President
of the College in 1958, guided the development of the Homewood campus. He strengthened,
elevated, and augmented the school's programs and established strong ties with
the Alabama Baptist State Convention that eventually resulted in increased support.
He was instrumental in acquiring Tennessee's historic Cumberland School of Law
in 1961, a decision that hastened the institution's transition to university
status and the change of its name to Samford University in 1965. In 1973, he
oversaw the merger agreement between the Baptist Medical Center's Ida V. Moffett
School of Nursing and Samford University. During his presidency, the student
population doubled, and he personally awarded diplomas to nearly 17,000 graduates.
By the end of his tenure in 1983, eleven major campus facilities were complete,
and the original vision of the new campus had been realized. With a quarter-century
at the helm of Samford University, Leslie S. Wright is the University's longest
serving president in its sesquicentennial history. Upon his retirement as President,
he was named Chancellor for Life.
Born in Birmingham and a graduate of the University of Louisville, his was a
full career of service that resounded locally and encircled the globe. In the
United States Navy, in the employ of Senator Lister Hill, in leading the Baptist
Foundation of Alabama, and as President of Samford University, he earned such
respect that he was appointed the first head of the Alabama Ethics Commission.
Within Alabama, he directed charitable, civic, historic, public, and professional
organizations. He was a lifelong Sunday School teacher and deacon in Baptist
churches. Globally, as one of Rotary International's sixteen directors and as
the first chairman of PolioPlus, he spearheaded a 240 Million dollar worldwide
campaign to eradicate polio and immunized against infectious disease. Due to
this effort, more that one billion children received the oral polio vaccine.
Throughout his career he had the loving support of his wife, Lolla Catherine
Wurtele. They parented two sons, Leslie Stephen Wright, Jr. and John King Wright.
As Leslie Stephen Wright sought to serve others, he received numerous awards
including honorary degrees, the Birmingham Citizen of the Year, election to
the Alabama Academy of Honor, the Educator of the Year national award from the
Religious Heritage of America, the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms
Foundation, the Jefferson Award of the American Institute of Public Service,
and Rotary's Citation of Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award.
Leslie Stephen Wright was inducted into the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame in 1999.