Mather, Stephen Tyng (1867–1930)

US conservationist. In 1915 he joined the Interior Department as assistant to the secretary and two years later was named first director of the National Park Service. He organized and expanded the park system during his 12-year tenure, adding, among others, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, and Great Smoky Mountain National Parks.

Mather was born in San Francisco, California. A descendant of the Mathers of early colonial Massachusetts, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1887 and worked as a newspaper reporter in New York City before going to work for the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1893. He later became president of the Sterling Borax Company.