commissioner of CES. Wilkinson had relied on McKay as a buffer in interacting with Harold B. Lee, a senior member of the Board of Trustees with whom Wilkinson differed greatly in educational and administrative philosophies. Sensing a lack of support among the church leaders, Wilkinson resigned from his position as BYU president in mid-1970 and was released at the beginning of 1971. Even though he was no longer president, Wilkinson hoped to be involved in the establishment of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. Due to his domineering reputation, school officials were unsure that he should continue to be so closely involved in administration of BYU, so they asked him to edit the university's official centennial history. Published in 1976, Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years was composed of four volumes. Death Wilkinson died of a heart attack April 6, 1978. Before he died, he had been supervising the work on his biography, Ernest L. Wilkinson: Indian Advocate and University President. LDS Church service In the early 1930s, Wilkinson served as branch president in New York and Queens, and later, bishop of the Queens Ward. His colleagues in the Hughes law firm called him the "Bishop of Wall Street". In 1940, he served as second counselor to Ezra Taft Benson in the presidency of the Washington Stake and as first counselor from 1944 to 1948 to a later president of the stake. He represented the church on the General Commission for Chaplains of the Army and Navy. Legacy During the twenty years of Wilkinson's presidency at BYU, the student body increased from 4,004 students in 1951 to over 25,000 in 1971. The university went from having five colleges with 37 departments to 13 colleges with 71 departments. The number of faculty members increased by from 244 to 932, while the number of them holding a doctoral degree increased from 50 to more than 500. The first associate and doctoral programs were organized. The quarter system was changed to the semester system. The number of resources in the library increased by 500%. The number of buildings increased from six permanent buildings to 254 permanent buildings and 85 temporary buildings, an increase from 800,000 to 5 million square feet of floor space. After 1972, student housing could accommodate almost 6,000 students, an increase from the 1,200 student accommodations in 1951. The achievement Wilkinson was most proud of was the creation