Henry T. Heald papers, 1935-1989

Henry Townley Heald was the President of Armour Institute of Technology at the time of the merger to form IIT, and continued on as IIT’s first formative president. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1904 and studied Civil Engineering at Washington Stat Collection and University of Illinois. He first joined Armour Institute of Technology as a professor, moving up to dean and eventually President in 1937. In 1940 he became the first President of IIT. During WWII he was instrumental in bringing war training to campus through the ESMWT and V-12 programs. As President, Heald oversaw the expansion of academic programs as well as the construction of the main Mies campus and growth of the endowment. In 1952, Heald moved on to be the chancellor of New York Univeristy, and in 1956 became president of the Ford Foundation.