Charles Madison Sarratt

Sarratt was born June 21, 1888, in Gaffney, South Carolina.[1][2] His father, Robert Clifton Sarratt, served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate.[3] His paternal family was of Welsh descent.[4] His mother, Frances Amos, was the daughter of Confederate veteran and Inman cotton plantation owner Charles McAlwreath Amos and granddaughter of Charles Amos, the co-owner of the Cowpens Iron Works and a slaveholder in the antebellum era.[5]

Sarratt graduated from Limestone College.[6] He then graduated from Cornell University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1911.[7] He went on to receive a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1915.[7]

Sarratt taught in the College of Engineering at Syracuse University from 1913 to 1916.[1] He joined the faculty in the department of mathematics at Vanderbilt University in 1916.[2][8] He became the dean of men in 1922.[7] Two years later, in 1924, he was appointed chair of the department of mathematics,[7] and served as chair for the next twenty-two years.[8] In 1939, he became dean of students.[7] In 1946, he was appointed as vice-chancellor.[1][7] He also served as chancellor pro tempore in 1946.[8] From 1958 to 1978, he was retired, yet served as dean of alumni.[3][8] He was known as "Mr Vanderbilt" or "Dean Sarratt," even after he retired.[3]

With Columbia University professor Thomas Alexander, Sarratt was the co-author of Alexander Sarratt-Arithmetics, a three-volume mathematics textbook published in 1924.[1][9]

Sarratt was a member of the American Mathematical Society.[7] He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Nu.[7] He served on the board of directors of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.[8] He was President of the American Red Cross.[8] He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1967.[10]

In 1960, Sarratt chaired a committee of black leaders like Stephen J. Wright and Walter S. Davis and white businessmen to put an end to the Nashville sit-ins.[11]

Sarratt married Mary Dora Houston in 1922.[1] They had a son, Madison "Houston" Sarratt,[1] who married Martha Haley Davis, the daughter of William Lipscomb Davis.[12]

Sarratt Student Center on the campus of Vanderbilt University.

Sarratt died on March 24, 1978, in Nashville.[2] The Sarratt Student Center on the campus of Vanderbilt University has been named for him since 1974.[13][14] Inside, the Sarratt Gallery is also named for him.[15] Moreover, his bust is on display there.[2][14]