William Wallace Grainger was a 1919 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Engineering and the founder of Grainger Industrial Supply in Skokie, Illinois. He served as President and CEO of the company for 40 years until his retirement in 1968, and then on the Board of Directors until his death in 1982. William Wallace Grainger began contributing to his alma mater in 1966. He established the Grainger Foundation in 1979.

Other buildings named after Grainger are:
• Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics
• Grainger conference room in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building
• Grainger conference room in the Engineering Hall