Past leaders of the USPTO

William Thornton

1802-1828

William Thornton, the first and longest serving head of the office, was born on May 20, 1759, in the British Virgin Islands. He was sent to England at the age of five for...

Thomas P. Jones

1828-1829

Thomas P. Jones was born in Herefordshire, England, in 1774. He immigrated to the United States after being trained as a physician and lived in Philadelphia as early as...

John D. Craig

1829-1835

John D. Craig was born in Ireland in 1766. He was a teacher at the Baltimore Union School and the master at an academy in Baltimore. In 1828 he led the founding of the...

James C. Pickett

1835

James Chamberlayne Pickett was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, on February 6, 1793. His family moved to Kentucky when he was a young boy. He attended the best schools...

Henry L. Ellsworth

1835-1845

When the Act of 1836 created the new office of Commissioner of Patents, the appointment of the then Superintendent of Patents, Henry L. Ellsworth, to the Commissionership...

Edmond Burke

1845-1849

The second Commissioner of Patents was born at Westminster, Vermont, Jan. 23, 1809. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1829, practised at Newport, New Hampshire...

Thomas Ewbank

1849-1852

Thomas Ewbank, third Commissioner of Patents, was born of humble parentage in Durham, England, March 11, 1792. He was apprenticed in boyhood to the trade of sheet metal...

Silas Henry Hodges

1852-1853

Though he was commissioner for the brief space of only one year, Mr. Hodges was, for a considerable part of his life, actively connected with the Patent Office. Silas...

Charles Mason

1853-1857

Born at Pompey, New York, October 24, 1804, the Honorable Charles Mason was the son of Chauncey and Esther Mason, grandson of Jonathan Mason and a descendant of Capt...

Joseph Holt

1857-1859

It is said that the incumbency of the office of Commissioner of Patents by Joseph Holt was a minor incident in a notable career. And it might well be added that the...

William Darius Bishop

1859-1860

The seventh Commissioner of Patents, William Darius Bishop, was descended from old New England stock, his original ancestor, Rev. John Bishop, having emigrated from...

Philip Francis Thomas

1860

Less than one year out of the long and colorful political career of Philip Francis Thomas was spent in the service of the Patent Office. A native of the Eastern Shore of...

David P. Holloway

1861-1865

The war-time commissioner was David P. Holloway, the ninth incumbent of that office. Holloway was born in Waynesville, Ohio, on December 6, 1809. With his parents he...

Thomas C. Theaker

1865-1868

The Civil War having given an impetus to creative genius as applied to the useful arts, entirely without precedent, it was to the problems of this period that the tenth...

Elisha Foote

1868-1869

Elisha Foote, the eleventh Commissioner of Patents, may be regarded as being the last Commissioner of the "old regime", prior to the revised laws of 1870. His term of...

Samuel Sparks Fisher

1869-1870

The occasion needed the man, and when it was announced that Col. Fisher was persuaded to take the Commissionership, satisfaction among the friends of the patent system...

Mortimer D. Leggett

1871-1874

General Mortimer D. Leggett, the thirteenth Commissioner of Patents, while demonstrating unusual ability in several fields of activity, came into his greatest prominence...

John Marshall Thacher

1874-1875

This Commissioner stands in a unique position in that he entered the Patent Office as a clerk and rose through the ranks to the top. He is an excellent representative of...

Robert Holland Duell

1875-1876

Robert Holland Duell was a native of the State of New York, born in Warren, on December 20, 1824. He studied in Syracuse Academy and took up the profession of law, being...

Ellis Spear

1877-1878

One of the many who, after the Civil War, were anxiously looking about for civilian employment and means of making a livelihood for themselves and their families was a...

Halbert Eleazer Paine

1878-1880

General Paine was another Civil War hero to become Commissioner of Patents. Born at Chardon, Ohio, February 4, 1826, he was the seventh in line of descent from Stephen...

Edgar M. Marble

1880-1883

Rising from the ranks, Mr. Marble was appointed Commissioner of Patents on April 28, 1880, by President Hayes, and served until 1883. It was a most interesting period...

Benjamin Butterworth

1883-1885 and 1897-1898

The 19th Commissioner of Patents was born near Maineville, Ohio, October 22, 1837, of Quaker ancestry, one of his maternal ancestors, John Linton having emigrated to...

Martin V. B. Montgomery

1885-1887

Martin Van Buren Montgomery—lawyer, legislator, jurist—was the 20th Commissioner of Patents. He was born in the township of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, October 20, 1840. The...

Benton J. Hall

1887-1889

As a young man, having received but a limited collegiate and academic training, Benton J. Hall was greatly stimulated and broadened by the potent influence of a class of...

Charles Elliott Mitchell

1889-1891

Born May 11, 1837, at Bristol, Connecticut, Charles Elliott Mitchell was of ancestry prominent in the history of New England, being descended on his father's side from...

William Edgar Simonds

1891-1893

Biography of William Edgar Simonds, commissioner of patents from 1891 to 1893.

John S. Seymour

1893-1897

John Seymour [was born on September 28, 1848, and] came from Colonial stock, his earliest ancestors in this country being found among the first settlers of Hartford...

Charles Holland Duell

1898-1901

Charles Holland Duell, twenty-fifth Commissioner of Patents, was the illustrious son of Robert Holland Duell, the fifteenth Commissioner of Patents. Charles was born in...

Frederick Innes Allen

1901-1907

Born at Auburn, New York, January 19, 1859, Frederick Innes Allen came from a prominent family of that city. Graduating from Yale in 1879, he received a class prize in...

Edward Bruce Moore

1907-1913

Edward Bruce Moore was born at North Anson, Maine, December 25, 1851. At the age of fourteen he came to Washington, serving as a page in the Senate. In 1876 he became...

Thomas Ewing

1913-1917

The name Ewing has been connected with public life and governmental functions over a considerable period of years. Thomas Ewing, Commissioner Ewing's grandfather, was the...

James T. Newton

1917-1920

The chaotic condition of the rest of the world was reflected in the affairs of the Patent Office at the time when Mr. Newton became Commissioner. The personnel seemed to...

Robert Frederick Whitehead

1920-1921

The son of a successful farmer and lawyer, Mr. Whitehead was born February 28, 1869, near Lovingston, Virginia. He attended the public schools and the University of...

Melvin H. Coulston

1921

Mr. Coulston’s short term of office is evidence, not of his unfitness for the position, but of a peculiarity of our political system. He was confirmed by the Senate on...

Thomas E. Robertson

1921-1933

Following Mr. Coulston's term of office, which was the shortest on record, comes Mr. Robertson's, which was the longest [Note: While Mr. Robertson had the longest term as...

Conway P. Coe

1933-1945

Conway P. Coe was born in Calvert County, Maryland, on October 21, 1897, and moved to the Washington, D.C., area at an early age. After receiving a B.A. from Randolph...

Casper W. Ooms

1945-1947

Caspar W. Ooms was born on August 30, 1902, in Chicago. He attended Knox College and the University of Chicago School of Commerce and Administration. He received a law...

Lawrence C. Kingsland

1947-1949

Lawrence C. Kingsland was born in St. Louis on April 11, 1884. He attended Washington University in St. Louis and received a degree from Washington University School of...

John A. Marzall

1949-1953

John A. Marzall was born on March 8, 1896, in Chicago and practiced law there after living in New York. President Harry Truman appointed him commissioner of patents, and...

Robert C. Watson

1953-1961

Robert C. Watson was born in Washington, D.C., on November 21, 1890. His father was a patent attorney. Watson received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from...

David L. Ladd

1961-1963

David L. Ladd was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, on September 18, 1926. He attended Kenyon College for a year before serving in the U.S. Army. He received a bachelor’s degree...

Edward J. Brenner

1964-1969

Edward J. Brenner was born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, on June 26, 1923. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering and a law degree from the...

William E. Schuyler, Jr.

1969-1971

William E. Schuyler Jr. was born on February 3, 1914, in Washington, D.C., and resided in the Washington area for his entire career. His mother operated a patent...

Robert Gottschalk

1972-1973

Robert Gottschalk was born on January 10, 1911, in New York City. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McGill University and a law degree from...

C. Marshall Dann

1974-1977

C. Marshall Dann was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, on March 27, 1915. His father was an engineer with Westinghouse Electric Corp. He received a bachelor’s degree in...

Donald W. Banner

1978-1979

Donald W. Banner was born in Chicago on February 24, 1924. He was a P-47 fighter pilot during World War II and was shot down in Europe and held as a prisoner of war until...

Sidney A. Diamond

1979-1981

Sidney A. Diamond was born October 17, 1914, in New York City. He received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Harvard University. He...

Gerald J. Mossinghoff

1981-1985

Gerald J. Mossinghoff was born in St. Louis on September 30, 1935. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from St. Louis University and a law degree...

Donald J. Quigg

1985-1989

Donald J. Quigg was born April 28, 1916, in Kansas City, Missouri. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma and a law...

Harry F. Manbeck, Jr.

1990-1992

Harry F. Manbeck Jr., was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania on June 26, 1926. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Lehigh University and was hired...

Bruce A. Lehman

1993-1998

Bruce A. Lehman was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, on September 19, 1945. He received history and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and served as legal...

Q. Todd Dickinson

1999-2001

Q. Todd Dickinson was born December 21, 1952, in Philadelphia. He received a bachelor’s in chemistry from Allegheny College and a law degree from the University of...

James E. Rogan

2001-2004

James E. Rogan was born August 21, 1957, in the Mission District of San Francisco. He described the early hardships of his life in his 2004 book Rough Edges – My Unlikely...

Jon W. Dudas

2004-2009

Jon W. Dudas was born on July 5, 1968, in Springfield, Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois and a law degree from the...

David J. Kappos

2009-2013

Appointed by President Barack Obama, David J. Kappos served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and...

Michelle K. Lee

2015-2017

Appointed by President Barack Obama, Michelle K. Lee served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and...

Andrei Iancu

2018-2021

Andrei Iancu was born in 1968 in Bucharest, Romania, and immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old. He was educated at the University of California, Los...