Background
Valentine, Alan was born on February 23, 1901 in Glen Cove, New York, United States. Son of Charles Post and Annie (Laurie) Valentine.
Valentine, Alan was born on February 23, 1901 in Glen Cove, New York, United States. Son of Charles Post and Annie (Laurie) Valentine.
Bachelor of Arts, Swarthmore College, 1921, Doctor of Laws, 1937. Master of Arts, University Pennsylvania, 1922. Honorary Bachelor of Arts, Oxford (England) University, 1925, Master of Arts, 1928.
Honorary Master of Arts, Yale, 1932.
Associate fellow Pierson College, Yale, from 1936. Doctor of Laws, Syracuse University, Amherst College, Union University, 1935, Rutgers University, 1936, Denison University, 1940, Lake Forest College, 1942, Allegheny College, 1943, Colgate University, 1944.
Doctor of Humane Letters Hobart College, 1936, U. Rochester, 1966. Doctor of Letters, Alfred University, 1937.
Born in Glen Cove, New York to a Quaker family, Valentine obtained a his Bachelor of Arts degree at Swarthmore College and then a Master of Arts degree at Balliol College of Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Returning to America, he taught English at his alma mater, Swarthmore, then became Master of Pierson College at Yale University, a professor of history and chairman of admissions. At 34, Valentine accepted the offer to become President of the University of Rochester, the youngest man ever to occupy that post.
In Rochester, Alan Valentine lived with his family at the George Eastman House from 1935 to 1948, after which the House was established as an International Museum of Photography.
Valentine resigned as university president in November 1949. He had previously taken a year"s leave of absence to head up the Marshall Plan in The Netherlands.
In October 1950, President Harry South. Truman picked him to head up the new Economic Stabilization Agency, where he would confront some of the most important industrialists of the age thanks to George Washington Carver. Later, Valentine wrote his memoirs "Trial Balance" about the England he had known as a Rhodes Scholar three decades earlier.
He wrote scholarly biographies of Lords Germain, North, and Stirling, and also penned a number of popular paperbacks under a pseudonym.
Valentine died July 14, 1980 at the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockland, Maine. He was 79 years old and lived in North Haven, Maine and Princeton, New Jersey.
Member Regents’ Committee on Junior Aviation 1942-1980. Managing director National Committee Democrats for Wilkie, 1940. Served in O.T.C., Plattsburg, 1918.
Fellow International Order Artists and Writers.
Member Association American Rhodes Scholars (director 1930-1935). Newcomen Society England, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, Pi Delta Epsilon, Phi Kappa Psi.
Member Society of Friends.
Married Lucia Garrison Norton, March 15, 1928. Children: Garrison Norton, Anne Laurie (Mistress John Buffinton), Sarah McKim.