Willis D. Weatherford, Jr. Papers

Dr. Willis D. Weatherford, Jr. was the sixth president of Berea College, serving from 1967–1984.  Born in western North Carolina in 1916, Weatherford earned his B.A. at Vanderbilt in 1937 and his B.D. from Yale in 1940.  Weatherford went on to earn his M.A. (1943) and Ph.D. (1952) in Economics from Harvard and taught economics at Swarthmore from 1948 until 1964. Weatherford became a dean at Carleton College in 1965.  In addition to his scholarly work, Weatherford served in Europe and Africa during WWII on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). From 1950-51, Weatherford spent a year in India with the AFSC and returned to India in 1954-55 to conduct land tenure research on a Ford Foundation grant. Working with the United Nations in 1959-1960, Weatherford served as an advisor on rural development in Malaya. Dr. Weatherford’s intellectual background, service and experience were a good fit for Berea as he strongly believed in in transforming the lives of Berea students in the ideals of racial justice, civic responsibility, and Christian service. Weatherford married Anne Smith in 1954—they raised five children together, all of whom graduated from Berea College. Dr. Weatherford passed away in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on May 22, 1996 at 79 years old.