The Henry Toll Fellowship Program is named in honor of Henry Wolcott Toll, founding father of The Council of State Governments and a Colorado state senator from 1922 to 1930. Toll, a Denver native and Harvard educated lawyer, practiced law in Denver and served in World War I.

In the Colorado Legislature he sponsored legislation to establish the first Legislative Reference Office. To improve state legislative conditions across the country, Toll founded the National Association of State Legislators in 1925. He compiled the first list of all the legislators in the nation and invited them to join the fledgling association he founded in Chicago in 1930. His association convened the first assembly of state legislators from numerous states in 1933 to resolve tax conflicts among states. In 1933, the association adopted articles of organization, forming The Council of State Governments.

Toll directed CSG until 1938 and continued to be active in civic affairs, receiving honors from many organizations. He remained CSG’s honorary president until his death in 1975. Henry Toll—a tireless visionary, an innovative champion of state government, a courageous opponent of racism and a spirited statesman—was, in one word, a leader.