Elvis Jacob Stahr , Jr . Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr . ( March 9 , 1916 – November 11 , 1998 ) was an American government official and college president and administrator . After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1936 as a member of Sigma Chi , he attended Merton College at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship . He served as lieutenant colonel in the U . S . Army during World War II . He returned to the University of Kentucky and became a professor and then dean of the College of Law , before becoming president of West Virginia University . He served as the United States Secretary of the Army between 1961 and 1962 and served as president of Indiana University from 1962 to 1968 . He was the president of the National Audubon Society from 1968 until 1981 . Early life . Stahr was born in 1916 in Hickman , Kentucky to Hon . Elvis Stahr , a Fulton County , Kentucky judge and his wife Mary McDaniel Stahr . At age 16 , he entered the University of Kentucky , where he achieved the highest academic average in the history of the university . Graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1936 as a member of Sigma Chi and the Pershing Rifles , a National Military Fraternity , he attended Merton College at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship where he studied law . He was known at Oxford as " the Colonel " and resisted assuming British affectations . He practiced law in New York , then studied Chinese at Yale University . He served in combat units in China during World War II as a United States Army lieutenant colonel . Early career . Stahr practiced law in New York after the war , and married Dorothy Howland Berkfield , a New York City debutante . In 1947 he became a law professor at the University of Kentucky . He was named dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law and served until 1956 . With University President and Justice Thurgood Marshall , he helped desegregate the law school . During the Korean War , he took a 16 - month leave of absence to serve as special assistant to Secretary of the Army Frank Pace Jr . In 1956 , Stahr was staff director of President Dwight D . Eisenhower ' s Commission on Education Beyond High School . He was vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh in 1957 and 1958 , and then was president of West Virginia University until nominated as Secretary of the Army by President John F . Kennedy in 1961 . Secretary of the Army and President of Indiana University . Stahr served as Secretary of the Army in 1961 and 1962 , during the Berlin crisis and the Central Intelligence Agency - sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion , aimed at ousting Fidel Castro from power . A major reorganization plan was launched ; combat division structure was reorganized , special warfare forces community relations ( Civic Action ) were expanded , and the Army was strengthened during the Berlin Crisis . Stahr also mobilized the Alabama National Guard in 1961 , when the Kennedy Administration undertook desegregating of the University of Alabama . In 1962 Stahr resigned to become President of Indiana University . He was the University ’ s twelfth president . The Gary and Calumet campuses were combined to form IU Northwest , the joint IU - Purdue University campus was established in Fort Wayne , the School of Library and Information Science was founded , and the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis was affiliated with Indiana University . Later career and life . Stahr retired from Indiana University in 1968 , accepting the presidency of the National Audubon Society . Under Mr . Stahr ' s leadership , the Audubon Society undertook a campaign to increase its influence and membership , which in 10 years more than quadrupled to almost 400 , 000 . As president of the Audubon Society , Mr . Stahr led efforts to preserve the Florida Everglades from commercial and industrial development , fought for accords on international whaling practices and campaigned successfully to liberalize U . S . tax laws to allow charitable organizations to lobby on public policy issues . He retired from Audubon in 1981 . In the years following , he practiced law in Washington , D . C . and New York , lobbying for environmental issues . He had served on several corporate boards of directors , including Chase Manhattan Corp . and Acadia Mutual Life Insurance Co . In his life he earned more than 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities . He died of cancer in his Greenwich , Connecticut home on Veterans Day , November 11 , 1998 .