Benjamin Rush Rhees was the third president of the University of Rochester, serving from 1900-1935.
Background
Benjamin Rush Rhees was born on Feburary 8, 1860 in Chicago, the third of four children and the second of two sons (the only one to survive infancy) of John Evans and Annie Houghton (McCutchen) Rhees. His great-grandfather, Morgan John Rhys, a radical Welsh preacher and agitator for religious freedom and political reform, had come to the United States in 1794 and settled in Philadelphia. There he became a friend of the famous Dr. Benjamin Rush, after whom he named one of his sons, the name thus passing into family tradition. Rush Rhees was christened Benjamin Rush, though he dropped the first name early in life. His grandfather, Morgan John Rhees, Jr. , was a Baptist minister, his father a commission merchant who had moved to Chicago from New Jersey. Rhees's mother, who was of Scottish descent, came from Williamsburg, New York (later a part of Brooklyn), and after the early death of her husband she returned there with her family, moving in 1867 to Plainfield, New Jersey.
Education
Rhees received his education at Plainfield High School, Amherst College (A. B. , 1883), and Hartford Theological Seminary (1885 - 88). At Amherst he was an outstanding student in classics, and for two years after graduation he taught mathematics there. At Hartford Seminary he made a notable record as a student of the New Testament. He studied at the University of Berlin during the summer of 1888.
Career
He became in 1889, pastor of the Middle Street Baptist Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was ordained to the Baptist ministry.
In May 1892 he became associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Newton Theological Institution, Newton Center, Massachussets During his eight years at Newton, Rhees was promoted to the rank of professor (1894), established a reputation as a New Testament scholar, and published The Life of Jesus of Nazareth: A Study (1900).
During this period he also developed his philosophy of education and a practical interest in teaching methods. Rhees's significance, however, depends chiefly on his work as president of the University of Rochester, an office he assumed in 1900 and held for thirty-five years.
He found Rochester a small, impecunious liberal arts college hardly known outside the city and left it on the road to national importance, well established as a center for the study of music and medicine and in possession of a considerable endowment. He was able to combine in a particularly effective fashion the task of internal administration and that of relationship with trustees, state educational officials, and other outside authorities.
Perhaps his leadership was acceptable and effective because the members of the faculty respected him as one of themselves, but one whose talents and interests extended beyond those of the specialist.
He had a deep interest in city planning and government and lent his support to a movement (1910) to organize a central bureau (with a university economist and sociologist in charge) to coordinate the city's charitable enterprises.
He later served as chairman of the budget committee of the wartime Rochester Patriotic and Community Fund.
Rhees died of a heart attack in Rochester and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery there.
Achievements
Politics
A Republican in politics, Rhees was one of those who urged the election of Harding in 1920 as the best step towards United States membership in an international peace organization.
Personality
His temperament and manner were primarily scholarly and judicial. In his dealings with the faculty he was the moderator and balance wheel. Rhees was a deliberate man, who made major educational transformations by slow, orderly progress. Physically he was not a particularly impressive figure, but his dignity and obvious grasp of almost every situation inspired confidence in his ability to handle whatever came his way in a quietly competent manner. He was reserved, appearing to some people even shy or austere. Yet he was capable in discussion and debate, respected as one who knew his mind and could speak it. Many students found him a genuine friend in need.
Connections
On July 6, 1899, Rhees married Harriet Chapin Seelye, daughter of L. Clark Seelye, president of Smith College. She had grown up in the same tradition of New England intellectual life which he made his own during his years at Amherst and later. They had three children, Morgan John, Henrietta Seelye, and Rush.