The building now known by the above name consists of two structures. A one story structure, the gift of alumni and friends, was erected in 1929, consisting of the Helen and Remsen Bird Studio and music practice rooms. A two-story structure incorporating facilities for both music and speech was built in 1960 with gifts from several major donors, including the Booth Ferris Foundation, and 300 other alumni and friends. The 1960 structure, dedicated in an impressive daylong program of formal events, was named The Willis H. Booth Music-Speech Center. In 1989, after speech and theater uses were transferred to the new Keck Theater the name was shortened to The Willis H. Booth Hall.

Mr. Booth was born in 1874 in Winnemucca, Nevada, where the Union Pacific Railroad employed his father, an engineer. After attending the University of California he came to Los Angeles in 1897 and in time was named vice president of the Security Trust & Savings Bank. As a Los Angeles businessman and banker, he promoted activities toward the betterment of the city and in 1909 was president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. From 1911 to 1914 he was a member of the Occidental College Board of Trustees, an affiliation that was renewed in 1954 when the College elected him an Honorary Life Trustee.

Mr. Booth left Los Angeles in 1918 for New York where he became vice president of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, retiring in 1941 after a lifetime of achievements in banking, business, and government. His numerous recognitions and honors included the presidency of the International Chamber of Commerce and honorary president at his death. He was a founder member of the Senior Council of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the United States. President Coolidge appointed him as representative of the United States Government on the Permanent International Commission for Brazil, and under President Franklin D. Roosevelt he was a member of the Special Commission on Railroad Problems for New York Harbor. He was a trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and of the National Industrial Conference Board. For his achievements he received decorations from foreign countries and honorary degrees, including the Doctor of Laws from Occidental in 1951.

The building bearing the Booth name was a recognition of the longtime friendship held by Mr. Booth and his wife, Chancie, for Occidental College and of the continuing support of the family through the trustees of the Booth Ferris Foundation. The Occidental Library was a longtime major interest of Mr. Booth, beginning with establishment of the Willis H. Booth Library Collection in Economics and the Social Sciences. He contributed generously to the growth of the collection and to the building fund for the 1955 addition to the Mary Norton Clapp Library.

Mr. Booth died in 1958, preceded in death by Mrs. Booth and their son Ferris.

By Jean Paule