William Biddle Shepard (1799-1852) was born in New Bern, NC, the third of ten children in a prominent North Carolina family. His parents were Mary Williams Blount and William Shepard, a noted public speaker and wealthy landowner. Entering the University in 1813, young William joined the Philanthropic Society but was expelled in 1816. Eventually he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Shepard became a banker and lawyer, serving in the US House of Representatives from 1829 to 1837. He also was several times elected to the NC Senate (1838-40, 1844, 1848-50), where he earned a reputation as a bitter opponent of Andrew Jackson and of slavery. He was twice married—to Charlotte Cazenove and to Annie Collins—and had one child by each marriage. Shepard was a member of the University's board of trustees from 1838 until his death in 1852 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 5:329).