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Photo of Wilbur D. Fulton

Wilbur D. Fulton

  • President, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 1953–1963
  • Born: April 1, 1898
  • Died: October 8, 1964

Wilbur D. Fulton became the fourth president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on May 14, 1953. He retired on April 30, 1963.

Born in 1898, Fulton was the first Cleveland native to serve as president of the Cleveland Fed. He attended Western Reserve University and the Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. Fulton began his banking career as bookkeeper. During World War I, he served as first sergeant with the 112th US Army Engineers, 37th Division, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Reserve Corps when the war ended.

Upon returning to Cleveland, Fulton spent several years working for area savings and loan companies before joining the Cleveland Fed as an examiner in 1933. He was promoted to chief examiner in 1941 and became assistant vice president and chief examiner in 1943, vice president in 1946, vice president in charge of the Bank’s Cincinnati office in 1949, and first vice president in 1953. That year, he succeeded Ray M. Gidney as president when Gidney was appointed comptroller of the currency under President Dwight Eisenhower.

Fulton was widely known for his lectures on banking. He spoke at banking schools conducted by the Kentucky Bankers Association at the University of Kentucky and by the Ohio Bankers Association at Ohio University.  

After his retirement, Fulton remained active professionally. He served as a banking consultant and was a consultant to the minority members of the Banking and Currency Committee of the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. He was also active in civic affairs and was a member of many civic and social organizations.

Fulton died in 1964 at the age of sixty-six.


Written by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. See disclaimer.