William T. Cobb

William T. Cobb, Lambda, 1877, Phi Alpha 1905-1907

William Titcomb Cobb, Lambda, 1877, Phi Alpha 1905-1907, was a successful attorney and politician. After graduating from Bowdoin, Brother Cobb studied in Germany at Leipzig
University and the University of Berlin. He then returned to the United States and studied law at Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Bar in 1880.

Brother Cobb was elected the 46th Governor of Maine as a Republican in 1904. He was re-elected in 1906. He supported President Theodore Roosevelt’s efforts at progressive
reform, including controlling the growing power of the railroad owners. He also supported pure food and drug laws and a meat inspection law. During his term of office, the state’s Secretary of State, the attorney general, the president of the Senate, and several members of the legislature were Zetes. He left office on January 6, 1909 and returned to Rockport, Maine to practice law for a quarter of a century.

After his term ended, he was honored by another mode of transportation when the steamboat Governor Cobb bore his name.

Brother Cobb was a constant supporter of the Lambda chapter at Bowdoin. As hosts of
the 1882 Zeta Psi convention in Boston, the chapter ran up a debt it could not afford.
Brother Cobb covered the debt. He was also instrumental in raising the funds for the
chapter’s new home in 1904.

Brother Cobb died on July 24, 1937 in Rockport, Maine.