| William Donald Bradford | |
| Birth Date: | June 19, 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Gadsden, Alabama |
| Nationality: | American |
| Website: | http://faculty.washington.edu/bradford/ |
| Institution: | Foster School of Business Robert H. Smith School of Business Stanford Business School |
| Field: | Finance |
| Alma Mater: | Howard University (BA), 1967 Ohio State University (MBA), 1968; (PhD) 1971 |
William Donald Bradford (born June 19, 1944) is an American economist who is Professor Emeritus of Finance and former Dean of the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He is a former president of the National Economic Association[1] and was inducted into the Minority Business Hall of Fame in 2013.[2]
Bradford was the fourth of six children born to Ollie Mae Dobbs and George Joel Bradford, a Baptist minister and barbershop owner. He moved from Gadsden, Alabama to Cleveland, Ohio as a young child, where he attended East Technical High School and earned money for college by working as a barber in his father's shop. He attended Howard University, where he was a linebacker on the football team, graduating with a B.A. in economics in 1967. He earned an MBA in 1968 and a PhD in finance in 1971 from the Ohio State University.[3]
Bradford was an associate professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business from 1972 to 1980, and chaired the Finance Department and then served as Associate Dean in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1984 - 1994. In 1994, he become Dean of the University of Washington School of Business.[4]