Marion LeRoy Burton (August 30, 1874 – February 18, 1925)[1] was the second president of Smith College, serving from 1910 to 1917.

In 1920, he became president of the University of Michigan, where he served until his premature death, aged 50, in 1925 from angina.

In 1903, he commenced studies at Yale University, taking a bachelor of divinity degree in 1906 and PhD in 1907, summa cum laude.

[2] After a short stint as assistant professor of systematic theology at Yale, he accepted a pulpit at the Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, NY until his election to the presidency of Smith College in 1910.

He left Minnesota before the buildings were completed, and soon commenced a similar effort in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

During his time at Michigan, he oversaw the construction of many buildings, earning him the nickname "Burton the builder."

Additional funds were raised for the Yost Field House and the Women's League Building.

Other disputes centered on whether faculty should be "full-time" or allowed to treat and receive fees from outside patients; the obligation of the hospital to treat indigent patients; the administrative relationship of the Hospital to the Medical School; and the need for a separate Nursing School.

While at Smith College, Burton had formed a close personal friendship with Calvin Coolidge and was invited to make the speech nominating him for president at the Republican National Convention in June in Cleveland, Ohio in 1924.