Briggs, Robert Peter, 1903-

Professor of accounting at the University of Michigan, also university administrator and member of its Board of Regents.

Robert P. Briggs was born in Monroe, Michigan on April 3, 1903, the son of Rose Pierce Briggs and Robert D. Briggs. In 1908 his family moved to Lansing, Michigan and Robert Briggs completed his grade school education in the Lansing Public Schools. In 1920 he went to the University of Michigan and obtained both AB and MBA degrees in 1925 and 1928 respectively.

In 1927 Briggs accepted a position at the University of Michigan as an instructor in economics. He stayed in this position until 1935 when he was made assistant professor of economics and accounting. Briggs moved steadily though the ranks becoming associate professor in 1940 and full professor in 1945. Concurrent with his full professorship, Briggs was vice president of the University of Michigan in charge of business and finance. He resigned this post in 1951 and left the University to begin an executive career at Consumers Power Company in Jackson, Michigan which lasted until 1975.

Briggs held many offices and was a member of many boards during these years. Most notably, he was a member, vice-chairman, and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1956 to 1964. He was the founding president of the Michigan State Chamber of Commerce in 1959. In 1964 he was appointed to the University of Michigan Board of Regents by Governor George Romney.

On December 22, 1925, Briggs married Maxine Eloise Corliss. The couple had two children, Ruth, born in 1933 and Peter, born in 1937.