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 by	David Jayne Hill
Succeeded by	Alan C. Valentine
Personal details
Born	(1860-02-08)February 8, 1860 Chicago, Illinois U.S.
Died	January 4, 1939(1939-01-04) (aged 78) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York
Spouse	Harriet Chapin Seelye Rhees
Children	3, including Rush Rhees, Jr
Alma mater	Amherst College, Hartford Theological Seminary
Profession	Administrator

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]