Leland DeWitt Stanford was the only child of A. Leland Stanford, railroad magnate and politician (governor of California and U.S. senator) and the former Jane Lathrop. The couple had been married 18 years before their son was born.
At age nine, Leland learned that he was not legally "Leland Stanford, Jr." and insisted that he wanted his father's name exactly; this wish was granted. Biographies indicate that Leland Jr. was a brilliant student and a kind and generous person who seemed not to be "caught up" in his wealth and privilege; he was apparently loved and admired by all who knew him.
In 1884, on a trip to Europe, Leland, Jr., contracted typhoid fever and died at the age of 15, in Florence, Italy. The tragic loss prompted his parents to found and endow a university in their son's memory, on their estate near Palo Alto known as "The Farm." Leland Stanford Junior University opened in 1891 and is now one of the world's leading universities.
Leland Stanford Jr. is entombed with his parents in the Stanford Family Mausoleum on the Stanford University campus.
Leland DeWitt Stanford was the only child of A. Leland Stanford, railroad magnate and politician (governor of California and U.S. senator) and the former Jane Lathrop. The couple had been married 18 years before their son was born.
At age nine, Leland learned that he was not legally "Leland Stanford, Jr." and insisted that he wanted his father's name exactly; this wish was granted. Biographies indicate that Leland Jr. was a brilliant student and a kind and generous person who seemed not to be "caught up" in his wealth and privilege; he was apparently loved and admired by all who knew him.
In 1884, on a trip to Europe, Leland, Jr., contracted typhoid fever and died at the age of 15, in Florence, Italy. The tragic loss prompted his parents to found and endow a university in their son's memory, on their estate near Palo Alto known as "The Farm." Leland Stanford Junior University opened in 1891 and is now one of the world's leading universities.
Leland Stanford Jr. is entombed with his parents in the Stanford Family Mausoleum on the Stanford University campus.
