William S. Banowsky

William Slater Banowsky (March 4, 1936 – April 28, 2019) was an American academic administrator. He served as president of Pepperdine University from 1971 to 1978, then as president of the University of Oklahoma from 1978 to 1982 when he resigned to become President of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1983, Banowsky returned as OU president and served for two more years. Banowsky was also a member of the Republican National Committee for the state of California from 1973 to 1975.

Life Early life and education Banowsky was born in 1936 to a religious family. He was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where as a teenager he preached at Church of Christ congregations. He attended David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tennessee, where he studied history and speech on a baseball scholarship. He was the chairman of the Los Angeles County Committee to Reelect the President and also the California Republican National Committeeman. In 1975, Banowsky expected to be nominated by President Ford to the position of undersecretary of the Department of the Interior, but the nomination fell through. He also served as a fundraiser for Ronald Reagan in the 1970s. During his tenure at Oklahoma, the university's endowment more than doubled, as did the size of the Bizzell Memorial Library. In 1982, he resigned to become the first full-time president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Banowsky left the university again in 1984 to head Gaylord Broadcasting, and in 1988 he was named executive vice president of National Medical Enterprises.

Death and legacy Banowsky died April 28, 2019, at the age of 83. Banowsky Boulevard, a street on the Malibu campus of Pepperdine University, was named in honor of his service to the university.