Wilbur D. Preston, Jr. was born in Baltimore, MD in 1922.  He was a member of the Class of 1944 of Western Maryland College though he did not graduate until 1946 as he was drafted into service in 1942 and trained as an infantryman.  He married May Honemann, Western Maryland College Class of 1945. They had four sons.  His wife died in 1989 and in 1991 he married Lucinda West.

Preston went on to graduate from the University of Maryland Law School  and started his career with a small law firm.  Two years later he began work in a Baltimore law firm that was to become known as Whiteford, Taylor, & Preston.  He was president of the Bar Association of Baltimore City and the Maryland State Bar Association.  In 1973 he was named fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

He was elected to Western Maryland College's Board of Trustees in 1967 and became chairman in 1971. His alma mater awarded him with an honorary Doctor of Civil Law in 1975 and he received the Alumnus of the Year award in 1983.  He died August 27, 2012.

(Western Maryland College is now McDaniel College)