Wilbur, C. Martin, February 12, 1981

C. Martin Wilbur (May 13, 1908 – June 18, 1997) was an author, scholar, and professor of 20th century Chinese history and politics born in Dayton, OH. At a very young age, he moved to Japan and then China, where he lived until college due to his father’s career. In 1931, he received his bachelor’s from Oberlin College and then his M.A. in Chinese from Columbia University before taking a job at a Chinese language School in China from 1932-34. He then returned to Columbia to receive his doctorate in 1941. He went on to work for Chicago’s Filed Museum of Natural History, as the curator of the Chinese Archaeology and Ethnology Collections, before being recruited to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) by a friend. He went to OSS in January of 1943 and remained with them until 1947, when he joined Columbia’s faculty as a professor of Chinese history. Wilbur was instrumental in developing the graduate program into one of the nation’s leading programs. He remained at Columbia until 1976. C. Martin Wilbur passed away in 1997. He was 89 years old.