William R. Rupley, resident manager at Grand Rapids of Hulburd, Warren & Chandler, one of the most substantial and important concerns in the grain and stock brokerage business in this city, has proven his ability as a leader and is recognized as one of the most alert and conservative operators in this field of activity in the city of Grand Rapids. He has not only achieved success in business, but has gained distinction in the management of large affairs and well deserves a place in the front rank among the leading business men and financiers of the country. The headquarters of this old and reliable corporation, of which Mr. Rupley is the executive head at Grand Rapids, is at Chicago, Illinois, where its status has long been one of prominence in connection with the representative commercial activities of the city. It has also owned membership in the New York stock exchange for more than forty years, and is represented also by membership in other principal stock exchanges and boards of trades. Branch offices are maintained in a number of other Michigan and Ohio cities with private wire connections to all outside markets. Although comparatively a young man, Mr. Rupley’s course has been one of secure and consecutive progress, and through his well-directed endeavors he has risen to a place of commanding influence in the business world. He was born at Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1877, and is a son of Theodore N. and Fannie (Ramsburg) Rupley. His educational advantages were those afforded by the grammar and high schools of his native state. As a youth he entered upon an apprenticeship to the printer’s trade, but soon retired from this business and turned his attention to the stock-brokerage business in the city of St. Louis. He later became identified wit a New York stock exchange firm and has since continued in this field of activity. In 1907 he became associated with Hulburd, Warren & Chandler, for whom he opened an office in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he remained until 1916, when he succeeded to the manager ship of the Grand Rapids office, in which capacity he has since continued. Besides his business connection Mr. Rupley also finds time and opportunity to give effective co-operation in movements for the social and material betterment of the community, and has ever stood as an exponent of the best type of civic loyalty and progressiveness. He is an active member of the Grand Rapids Association of Commerce, and is also affiliated with York Lodge, A. F. and A. M.; Columbia Chapter, R. A. M.; DeMolay Commandery, Knights Templars; Saladin Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and York Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is likewise a member of Battle Creek Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Cascade Hills Country Club, and is prominent in both business and social circles. Mr. Rupley was married August 13, 1900, to Miss Ida Ferguson, of Trinidad, Colorado, and they have one son, William R. Rupley, Jr.