Educator, Oakland Mayor. Born in Acton, Massachusetts, Durant graduated from Yale in 1827 and was ordained a Congregational minister in 1833. In 1853 he moved out west after seeing the potential for education in the new state of California and went on to found Contra Costa Academy, which was renamed the College of California in 1855. In 1868 the College of California was merged with the Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College to form the newly established University of California, in what would become the town of Berkeley, and Durant would be appointed the university’s first president serving from 1870 until his resignation in 1872. In 1873 he was elected the 16th Mayor of Oakland, a post he held until his death in 1875. (bio by: G.Photographer)