William Wayne Sherrill was born on August 23, 1926, in Houston, Texas. As a child, he loathed school, and by the time Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, he had spent more days truant than in attendance during his eighth grade year. Nineteen days after Pearl Harbor, at fifteen years old, he joined the Marine Corps. Sherrill's service would earn him the Purple Heart and an honorable discharge.

As he recovered from a combat injury, one of Sherrill's nurses encouraged him to enroll in the University of Houston, where he earned his BBA in 1950, followed by an MBA from Harvard in 1952. His career brought him to the highest positions within local and federal government, including the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. An entrepreneur at heart, Sherrill took part in many business ventures and went on to teach at his alma mater, where he founded the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, now called the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship.

This digital exhibit consists of materials from the William W. Sherrill Papers at UH Libraries' Special Collections.

Contact

Mary Manning, University Archivist
713-743-0346
mmmanning@uh.edu