| William Gurdon Saltonstall | |
| Office: | 8th Principal of Phillips Exeter Academy |
| Predecessor: | Lewis Perry |
| Successor: | W. Ernest Gillespie (interim) Richard Ward Day |
| Termend: | 1963 |
| Termstart: | 1946 |
| Birth Date: | November 11, 1905 |
| Birth Place: | Milton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Date: | December 18, 1989 |
| Death Place: | Lakeville, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Residence: | Marion, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard College Harvard Law School |
William Gurdon Saltonstall (November 11, 1905 – December 18, 1989) was an American educator and writer, and the ninth principal of Phillips Exeter Academy.
Saltonstall was born in Milton, Massachusetts to the wealthy Saltonstall family. He was a son of Robert Saltonstall and Caroline James (Stevenson) Saltonstall.[1] Among his siblings was Harriet Saltonstall Gratwick, a co-founder of the Rochester Zen Center.[2]
His paternal grandparents were William Gurdon Saltonstall and Josephine Rose (Lee) Saltonstall (youngest daughter of John Clarke Lee, founder of Lee, Higginson & Co.).[3] His maternal grandparents were Caroline James (Young) Stevenson and Brig. Gen. Robert Hooper Stevenson (brother of Thomas G. Stevenson).[4]
He was educated at Exeter, where he was a member of the class of 1924. He then attended Harvard College, where he was president of the student body and field marshal of the graduating class, and Harvard Law School, where he earned master's and law degrees and was a member of the Owl Club.
He served as the principal of Exeter from 1946 to 1963, where he had previously taught history. Under him, the Lamont Gallery, the schools educational art museum was established. In 1963, Saltonstall was asked by President Kennedy to be the director of the Peace Corps in Nigeria. After two years, he left.[5]
He was a trustee of Colby College and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and a former member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and United States Naval Academy Board of Visitors. He was a trustee of Educational Testing Service, and a president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
On September 22, 1931, Saltonstall was married to Katharyn Saltonstall with whom he had three daughters and two sons:[6]
Saltonstall died on December 18, 1989, at a nursing home in Lakeville, Massachusetts.[11]
He held honorary degrees from several schools, including Williams College, Tufts University, Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College, Colby College, Princeton University, and University of New Hampshire. The Saltonstall Boathouse in Phillips Exeter is named after him.[12]