Leopold Zunz (1794 - 1886)

Scholar and writer who formed with friends, (including Abraham Geiger, qv), the ‘Society for the Science of Judaism’, one of the first attempts to study Judaism in the light of modern history and sociology and a forerunner of the Reform movement. (bio by: David Conway)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917 - 2008)

Transcendental Meditation founder and developer. He originated the meditation technique and related programs and initiatives, including schools and a university with campuses in the United States and China. Born in India, with various years given for his birth: most frequently 1911, 1917, and 1918, and some sources state he was born on January 12 but […]

Gakkai Yoda (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of classical Chinese. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Tetsu Yasui (1970 - 1970)

Educator. As president of Tokyo Women’s Christian University, Yasui became the first woman in Japan to serve in such a capacity. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Tadao Yanaihara (1893 - 1961)

Tadao Yanaihara was a Japanese economist, educator and Christian pacifist. The first director of Shakai Kagaku Kenkyūjo (Institute of Social Science or Shaken) at the University of Tokyo, he studied at Toynbee Hall and School of Economics and Political Science (London School of Economics). Born in Ehime Prefecture, Yanaihara became a Christian under the influence […]

Elihu Yale (1649 - 1721)

Namesake and benefactor of Yale University.

Benjamin Fletcher Wright (1900 - 1976)

Educator, authority on constitutional law. He was the fifth president of Smith College (1949-1959), faculty member of University of Texas (1922-1926, 1960-1975) and Harvard University (1928-1949). He was chairman of Harvard government department (1942-1946) and committee on general education (1946-1949)He was a member of Harvard committee that prepared report “General Education In A Free Society” […]

Emma Willard (1787 - 1870)

In 1807, Emma Willard left Berlin and briefly worked in Westfield, Massachusetts, before accepting a job offer at a female academy in Middlebury, Vermont. She held the position of principal at the Middlebury Female Seminary from 1807 to 1809. However, she was unimpressed by the material taught there and opened a boarding school for women […]

Andrew Dickson White (1832 - 1918)

Educator / Ambassador.  He graduated from Yale University in 1853. He then spent three years in Europe studying, then returned to the University Of Michigan where he was a professor of History and English Literature.  He was the co-founder and 1st president of Cornell University – 1865-1885.  While at Cornell, White took leave to serve […]

Howard Primrose Whidden (1871 - 1952)

Longest serving Chancellor (now called President) of McMaster University of Toronto when he began his term (1923) and Hamilton, Ontario at the end of his term (1941). He was a Baptist minister, writer, educator, editor, politician (MP, Brandon, Manitoba, Unionist party 1917). His son, Howard Primrose Whidden became senior editor of Business Week magazine. Cause […]

Joe Ben Wheat (1916 - 1997)

Scholar and Author. Curator of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder (tenure: 1953-1986). Also served during the same time period as Assistant Professor of Natural History at the University of Colorado Museum. Wheat contributed to Mogollon and Anasazi, Plains Paleo-indian, and African Paleolithic archaeology. Also made contributions to the study of Southwestern […]

Joseph Wharton (1826 - 1909)

When he was 19, Joseph Wharton apprenticed with an accountant for two years and became proficient in business methods and bookkeeping. At 21, he partnered with his older brother Rodman to start a business manufacturing white lead. Wharton’s chemistry mentor, Martin Boye, had developed a method to refine cottonseed oil and the Wharton brothers tried […]

Dr Wendell Phillips Whalum, Sr (1931 - 1987)

Stephen G. Wentworth (1811 - 1897)

Educator. Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, he moved to Missouri in 1838, where he became involved in a number of entrepreneurial and public pursuits. From 1851 to 1864, he served as Public Administrator of Lafayette County, was a partner in the Morrison-Wentworth Bank and served as president of the Farmer’s Exchange Bank. He helped to incorporate […]

William Webbe (1970 - 1970)

Fellow of the College and nephew of the aster, Dr. William Branthwaite, a noted Puritan. (bio by: David Conway)

Kido Washizu (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of classical Chinese. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915)

Social Reformer.  Born a slave on the James Burroughs’s Plantation in Hale’s Ford, Franklin County, Virginia, he was 9 years old when slavery was abolished.  He attended and graduated from Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in 1875.  In 1881 he was selected to head Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which is now Tuskegee University.  Booker […]

Cephas Washburn (1793 - 1860)

Cephas Washburn was ordained in 1818 in Waitsfield, Vermont by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to serve as a missionary to American Indians. He was assigned to the Cherokee. He served as a missionary to the Cherokee Indians at Brainerd Mission, Tennessee, for a short while. He migrated with them westward, arriving in […]

Joseph Ward (1838 - 1889)

US Statesman, Educator, Theologian. Joseph Ward received his theological training at Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts, Brown Universtity in Providence, Rhode Island, and the Andover Theological Seminary. Soon after finishing his schooling, he accepted a missionary church assignment, and formed the Congregational Church of Dakota in Yankton, South Dakota. Recognizing the need for formal learning […]

Claire Waldoff (1884 - 1957)

Claire Waldoff was born the eleventh child of 16 in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, were her parents owned a tavern. After completing Gymnasium school in Hanover, she trained as an actress and chose as her pseudoynm Claire Waldoff. In 1903, she got her first theatre jobs in Bad Pyrmont and in Kattowitz (Katowice), Silesia. In 1906, Waldoff went […]

Raphael von Koeber (1848 - 1923)

Russian philosopher. Born  from a family of German origin, he studied piano in Moscow with teachers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Nikolai Rubinstein. Graduated in 1872, he decided to undertake the study of Philosophy at the University of Jena, where in 1878 he obtained his doctorate. He was Professor of Aesthetics, Musicology and Music […]

Rufus Bernhard Von Kleinsmid (1875 - 1964)

Educator. He was recognized as one of the nation’s most distinguished citizens and educators through the National Institute of Social Sciences Gold Medal Award. From 1914 to 1921, he served as the seventh president of the University of Arizona. In 1921, he became the fifth president the University of Southern California serving until 1947. Under […]

Pierre Theodore Verhaegen (1796 - 1862)

One of the founders of the non-religious university of Brussels (UniversitŽ Libre de Bruxelles).

Guido Herman Fridolin Verbeck (1830 - 1970)

Teijirou(Teijiro) Ueda (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of business management. Ueda also served as a president of Tokyo Shoka University. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Rev Alexander Lucius Twilight (1795 - 1857)

Groundbreaking African-American educator. In 1823 he graduated from Middlebury College, making him the first black person in America to receive a college degree. He was a teacher and was also licensed to preach. In 1836 he became pastor of Brownington’s Congregational church and principal of the Orleans County Grammar School. To cope with school expansion […]

Michisuke Ueno (1888 - 1962)

Educator. Ueno was a professor at Tokyo University who is best known for his efforts in directing The Ueno Group who main task was to establish a legal system for corporate accounting in post-war Japan. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Eisaburo Ueno (1872 - 1925)

Doctor Ueno was the first professor of agriculture at Tokyo University. He owned an Akita named “Hachiko” who accompanied him from his home to Shibuya train station and awaited him on his return each day. After Professor Ueno suffered a fatal stroke at the university and never came home, Hachiko continued to return to the […]

Teijirou(Teijiro) Ueda (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of business management. Ueda also served as a president of Tokyo Shoka University. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Kazutoshi Ueda (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of Japanese literature. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)