Ernest Leroy Wilkinson was an American academic administrator and prominent figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints . He was president of Brigham Young University from 1951 to 1971 and also oversaw the entire LDS Church Educational System. Prior to this, Wilkinson was a lawyer in Washington, D.C. and New York.
Wilkinson was born in Ogden, Utah. He graduated from Weber Academy in Ogden in 1917. He was then a student at Weber College, which was the same school now having expanded to offer collegiate level courses. After a year at Weber College Wilkinson became a member of the Student Army Training Core unit located at BYU. After the war he became a regular student at BYU and among other things served as the editor of the weekly newspaper. He earned his bachelor of arts degree at BYU in 1921.
Source: Wikipedia