William Lawrence Saunders

For the North Carolina Secretary of State, see William L. Saunders.

William Lawrence Saunders (November 1, 1856 – June 25, 1931) was a mining engineer who was chairman of the Naval Consulting Board during World War I. He was chairman of the board of Ingersoll Rand.^[1][2]

William Lawrence Saunders
Saunders in 1916
Born	(1856-11-01)November 1, 1856 Columbus, Georgia
Died	June 25, 1931(1931-06-25) (aged 74) Tenerife, Canary Islands
Known for	Chairman of the board of Ingersoll Rand
Spouse	Bertha Louise Gaston
Children	Louise Saunders Perkins Jean Saunders Lancaster
Parent(s)	William Trebell Saunders Eliza S. Morton

Biography

He was born in 1856 to Reverend William Trebell Saunders and Eliza S. Morton in Columbus, Georgia. His family moved to Apalachicola, Florida, where his father became the pastor of the Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church.^[2]

He married Bertha Louise Gaston on August 3, 1886, in Kingston, Rhode Island. They had two daughters, Louise Saunders Perkins and Jean Saunders Lancaster.^[3]

On March 24, 1904, he was made president of the Ingersoll Sergeant Drill Company after the death of William Russell Grace. In May 1905, the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company and the Rand Drill Company merged into Ingersoll Rand. He became the first president of the now combined Ingersoll Rand in 1906.^[2]

He resided in North Plainfield, New Jersey. He died on June 25, 1931, in Tenerife on the Canary Islands.^[1] He was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

Saunders was the first president of the New Jersey Men's League for Women's Suffrage.^[4]

He also served as the 1915 president of AIME (American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers). and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.