Roy Wilhelm is described by his biographers within these pages as quiet and gentle, but iron-willed. Relative to some of his contemporaries in the early Baha’i community of North America, his is a life perhaps less explored and examined so far by historians. This may be in part because many of the services he rendered were of a behind-the-scenes or administrative nature. What becomes abundantly clear when reading about the life of this brilliant and steadfast individual, however, is that h...

Roy Wilhelm's life story is a rich and varied one that takes the reader from the coffee farms of Costa Rica to Wall Street to the picturesque environs of the properties that remain associated with his life and the Bahá'í Faith he held so dearly. He was a shrewd businessman with a keen intellect and a wide range of interests. The extent of his services to the Faith and the establishment of its institutions in North America is hard to overstate. A pivotal figure in laying the groundwork for ...