Allan Sproul
Allan Sproul Allan Sproul spent nearly 36 years in the Federal Reserve System, all but 10 of them at the New York Fed. He served as president from January 1941 to June 1956. He was 44 when named president.

A native Californian, Mr. Sproul graduated from the University of California and was awarded a doctor of laws degree from New York University.

He joined the Federal Reserve System in 1920 as head of the division of analysis and research of the San Francisco Fed. In 1930, he came to the New York Fed as an assistant deputy governor and secretary, and six years later, when official titles changed, he was appointed first vice president.

As one of the leading central bankers in U.S. history, Mr. Sproul made major contributions in solving monetary problems. He was named vice chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee (the System's top monetary policymaking unit) when the New York Fed was given permanent representation on that committee in 1942.

In 1956, he resigned from the New York Fed and returned to California to serve as a director of Wells Fargo Bank. He was appointed a director of that bank’s holding company in 1969. Mr. Sproul also served as a director of Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation.

He died in April 1978.

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