Benjamin Rush Rhees

Benjamin Rush Rhees (/riːz/ 8 February 1860 – 5 January 1939) was the third president of the University of Rochester, serving from 1900 to 1935.

Benjamin Rush Rhees
3rd President of the University of Rochester
In office
1900–1935
Preceded byDavid Jayne Hill
Succeeded byAlan C. Valentine
Personal details
Born(1860-02-08)February 8, 1860
Chicago, Illinois
DiedJanuary 4, 1939(1939-01-04) (aged 78)
Rochester, New York
Resting placeMount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York
NationalityAmerican
SpouseHarriet Chapin Seelye Rhees
ChildrenMorgan John Rhees
Henrietta Seelye Rhees Stewart
Rush Rhees, Jr
ParentJohn E. Rhees
Annie H. McCutchen
Alma materAmherst College, Hartford Theological Seminary
ProfessionAdministrator

Education

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

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

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

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
  1. 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.
  2. Past Presidents Alpha Delta Phi fraternity
  3. "University of Rochester: Office of the President". Archived from the original on 2009-11-03. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
  4. "Rush Rhees Library: History". River Campus Libraries. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
  5. 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.)
  6. Phillips, D. Z.; Winch, Peter (1989-06-18). Wittgenstein: Attention to Particulars. Springer. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-349-11197-8.
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