An 1871 graduate of Lehigh, Henry Sturgis Drinker was the first alumnus to become the university’s president. Drinker graduated with a mechanical engineering degree and later studied law. He served the Lehigh Valley Railroad as an engineer and later as solicitor general.

During his 1905-1920 tenure as Lehigh’s fifth president, Drinker managed university affairs in a business-like way and oversaw the formation of a teacher’s course and a business administration course; the division of the university into three colleges: liberal arts, business administration and engineering; the establishment of Army ROTC; and the completion of many campus buildings, including Fritz Laboratory and Taylor Gymnasium. Other notable beginnings during Drinker’s tenure include the establishment of the alumni endowment fund, the incorporation of the Alumni Association, and the publication of the first Lehigh Alumni Bulletin in 1913. 

Drinker House, a residence hall for second-year students, bears his name.