F. V. Brooks

Franklin Vanderbilt Brooks was a New Yorker who enrolled as a member of the Stanford class of 1896 in October 1892. He was an assistant editor of the Daily Palo Alto and a Law major. He attended 3 years, 1892-3, 1893-4 and 1895-6, but left to complete his law study in San Francisco. He moved to Manila, Philippines, as a newspaper correspondent and began publishing "The American" on Oct. 15, 1898, which quickly became the best selling American newspaper in east Asia. He sold the newspaper, bought it back, then sold it again, finally returning to New York to practice law. He was elected as a New York assemblyman, serving from 1911 to 1912.