Lewis Nobles

Lewis Nobles was president of Mississippi College for over 25 years. Nobles grew the enrollment of the Baptist-affiliated university with new schools of nursing and law

The son of J. S. Nobles and Ruby Roper Nobles, William Lewis Nobles was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and joined the United States Navy during World War II, eventually obtaining the rank of lieutenant. After service in the Navy, he obtained a B.S. in pharmacy and an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Mississippi, followed by a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Kansas and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Nobles returned to the University of Mississippi to teach, and was eventually appointed as the dean of the graduate school. In 1968, he became president of Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. Nobles fled by car to the Memphis International Airport, where he flew to San Francisco, California, under a pseudonym, awaiting an international flight. The FBI tracked him to a San Francisco hotel, where he swallowed cyanide that led to a stroke and partial paralysis. He was released in 2001 and died in 2007.