Benjamin Rush Rhees Explained

Benjamin Rush Rhees
Order:3rd
Office:President of the University of Rochester
Term Start:1900
Term End:1935
Predecessor:David Jayne Hill
Successor:Alan C. Valentine
Birth Date:8 February 1860
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois
Death Place:Rochester, New York
Restingplace:Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York
Nationality:American
Spouse:Harriet Chapin Seelye Rhees
Children:Morgan John Rhees
Henrietta Seelye Rhees Stewart
Rush Rhees, Jr
Parents:John E. Rhees
Annie H. McCutchen
Alma Mater:Amherst College, Hartford Theological Seminary
Profession:Administrator

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

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, 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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kimball . Bruce A. . 1999 . Rhees, Rush (1860-1939), Baptist minister and university president . 2022-05-24 . . en . 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0900627 . 978-0-19-860669-7 . 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. http://www.alphadeltaphi.org/pastpresidents Past Presidents
  3. Web site: University of Rochester: Office of the President . 2007-06-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091103081909/http://www.rochester.edu/president/history.html . 2009-11-03 . dead .
  4. Web site: Rush Rhees Library: History . River Campus Libraries. 2013-09-24 .
  5. Phillips . Dewi Z. . Dewi Zephaniah Phillips . Rhees, Rush (1905–1989), philosopher . https://web.archive.org/web/20211026134935/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-65652 . 26 October 2021 . 2022-05-25 . 2004 . en . 10.1093/ref:odnb/65652 . 978-0-19-861412-8 . 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..
  6. Book: Phillips . D. Z. . Wittgenstein: Attention to Particulars . Winch . Peter . 1989-06-18 . Springer . 978-1-349-11197-8 . 10 . en.