Benjamin Rush Rhees
Benjamin Rush Rhees | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 3rd President of the University of Rochester | |
| In office 1900–1935 | |
| Preceded by | David Jayne Hill |
| Succeeded by | Alan C. Valentine |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 8, 1860 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | January 4, 1939 (aged 78) Rochester, New York |
| Resting place | Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Harriet Chapin Seelye Rhees |
| Children | Morgan John Rhees Henrietta Seelye Rhees Stewart Rush Rhees, Jr |
| Parent | John E. Rhees Annie H. McCutchen |
| Alma mater | Amherst College, Hartford Theological Seminary |
| Profession | Administrator |
Benjamin Rush Rhees (/riːz/ 8 February 1860 – 5 January 1939) was the third president of the University of Rochester, serving from 1900 to 1935.
Education[edit]
Rhees, great-grandson of radical Baptist minister Morgan John Rhys,[1] earned his undergraduate degrees from Amherst College where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi.[2]
He graduated from the Hartford Theological Seminary and was ordained a Baptist minister.
President of the University of Rochester[edit]
He served in the position from 1900 to 1935. When he arrived at the university, it had been without a president for four years.
Under his tenure, George Eastman became a donor to the university, contributing in the largest capacity the university had seen. The Eastman School of Music was begun during Rhees's tenure, as was the university's medical center and the College for Women (1902). Also during his tenure the Institute of Optics, the first such entity in the New World, was founded in 1929. Additionally, Rhees's administration was responsible for moving the campus from Prince Street to its current home on the River Campus (formerly Oak Hill golf course), with a groundbreaking in 1927.[3]
Rush Rhees Library, the main academic library of the University of Rochester, established in 1930 was named after him, as during his tenure, the school went from a small college to a research university.[4]
Family[edit]
Rhees and his wife Harriet Chapin Seelye (daughter of L. Clark Seelye) were the parents of Rush Rhees, a Wittgenstein scholar and one of the philosopher's literary executors.[5][6]
References[edit]
- ^ Kimball, Bruce A. (1999). "Rhees, Rush (1860-1939), Baptist minister and university president". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0900627. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
Rhees, Rush (08 February 1860–05 January 1939), Baptist minister and university president, was born in Chicago, to John Evans Rhees, a merchant, and Annie Houghton McCutcheon. He was christened Benjamin Rush Rhees after the noted Dr. Benjamin Rush, whom his great grandfather had met in Philadelphia upon emigrating from Wales in 1794. Rhees dropped the "Benjamin" as a youth. His grandfather, Morgan John Rhees, Jr., was a Baptist minister and in 1852 received one of the first honorary degrees granted by the University of Rochester, where his grandson would later serve as president.
- ^ Past Presidents Alpha Delta Phi fraternity
- ^ "University of Rochester: Office of the President". Archived from the original on 2009-11-03. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
- ^ "Rush Rhees Library: History". River Campus Libraries. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
- ^ Phillips, Dewi Z. (2004). "Rhees, Rush (1905–1989), philosopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65652. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
Rhees, Rush (1905–1989), philosopher, was born in Rochester, New York, USA, on 19 March 1905, the son of Rush Rhees (1860–1939), Baptist minister and president of Rochester University, and his wife, Harriet Chapin Seelye, daughter of L. Clark Seelye, the president of Smith College. His great-great-grandfather Morgan John Rhys, a Baptist minister and radical pamphleteer, had emigrated to America in 1794.
(Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - ^ Phillips, D. Z.; Winch, Peter (1989-06-18). Wittgenstein: Attention to Particulars. Springer. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-349-11197-8.
External links[edit]
Media related to Benjamin Rush Rhees at Wikimedia Commons- Works by or about Benjamin Rush Rhees at Internet Archive
- Works by Rush Rhees at Project Gutenberg
- Benjamin Rush Rhees at Find a Grave
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