Merrill Edwards Gates

{{Short description|American academic administrator (1848–1922)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Merrill Edwards Gates | image = Merrill Edwards Gates circa 1920.png | image_size = | birth_name = Merrill Edwards Gates | birth_date = {{Birth date|1848|04|06}} | birth_place = Warsaw, New York | death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|8|11|1848|4|6}} | death_place = Littleton, New Hampshire |order = 9th | office = President of Rutgers University | term_start = 1882 | term_end =1890 | appointer = | predecessor = William Henry Campbell| successor = Austin Scott | office2 = President of Amherst College | term_start2 = 1890 | term_end2 =1899 | appointer2 = | predecessor2 = Julius Hawley Seelye| successor2 = George Harris | parents = Seth Merrill Gates | education = The Albany Academy<br>University of Rochester | signature = Signature of Merrill Edwards Gates (1848–1922).png }} '''Merrill Edwards Gates''' (April 6, 1848 – August 11, 1922) was the ninth President of Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) serving from 1882 to 1890, and the sixth President of Amherst College, serving from 1890 to 1899.<ref name=bio2>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Merrill Edwards Gates|url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofoffic00rutgrich/catalogueofoffic00rutgrich_djvu.txt |encyclopedia=Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College (Originally Queen's College) in n New Brunswick, N. J, 1766 To 1916 |date=1916 |accessdate=2018-01-18 }}</ref>

==Biography== He was born at Warsaw, New York on April 6, 1848, to Seth Merrill Gates.<ref name=bio2/>

Gates received his baccalaureate degree at the University of Rochester, where he achieved high honors in Mathematics, Latin and Greek, and received the English Essay Prize in his senior year.<ref name=bio/>

He served as principal for twelve years at The Albany Academy in Albany, New York, and visited the Rugby School and the University of Oxford in England from 1872 to 1875. Upon his return to the United States, he was offered the post of Chancellor of the University of Tennessee but declined and remained in Albany. He went abroad again in 1879, spending a year in travel and study in France, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece. Upon this second return, the University of the State of New York conferred on him a degree in honoris causa in 1880, and in 1882, both the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University and the University of Rochester awarded him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He received the LL.D. degree from Columbia University in 1891 and from Williams College in 1893. Columbia University also conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) in 1887.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |url=https://www.rutgers.edu/about/history/past-presidents/merrill-edward-gates|title=Merrill Edwards Gates, 1882-1890 |accessdate=2008-07-25 |publisher=Rutgers University }}</ref> He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1886.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1886;smode=advanced;startDoc=21|access-date=2021-05-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

During his tenure as President of Rutgers College, which began in 1882, Gates built the college's first dormitory, Winants Hall (completed in 1890) named for Garrett E. Winants, and New Jersey Hall (funded by the state), which was used for instruction in chemistry and biology (now home of the economics department). Under the provisions of the Hatch Act, in 1887, Rutgers established the Agricultural Experiment Station, and under the Morrill Act of 1890, increase funding for the scientific school.<ref name=bio/>

In 1890, Gates resigned as President of Rutgers University to become President of Amherst College (from 1890 to 1899) in Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news |title=President Gates Resigns. He Retires From Rutgers To Accept A Call To Amherst |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1890/08/30/archives/president-gates-resigns-he-retires-from-rutgers-to-accept-a-call-to.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=August 30, 1890 }}</ref>

After his tenure at Amherst, Gates was appointed to be chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners, and later named secretary of the board where he served from 1899 to 1912. He remained in Washington, DC presenting lectures and serving literary and philanthropic societies, and preaching in the Congregational Church.<ref name=bio/>

He died at his summer home in Littleton, New Hampshire on August 11, 1922, he was 74 years old.<ref>{{cite news |title=Merrill E. Gates Dead at his Summer Home |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/192636272.html?dids=192636272:192636272&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=AUG+12%2C+1922&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=MERRILL+E.+GATES+DEAD+AT+HIS+SUMMER+HOME&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525021851/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/192636272.html?dids=192636272:192636272&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=AUG+12,+1922&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=MERRILL+E.+GATES+DEAD+AT+HIS+SUMMER+HOME&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |quote=Word was received in Washington last night that Merrill Edwards Gates, of 1309 Rhode Island avenue northwest, died yesterday at Littleton, where he was spending the summer. He was 74 years old. Funeral services will be held at Bethlehem, N. H., tomorrow, and the interment will be in Warsaw, N. Y. |newspaper=Washington Post |date=12 August 1922 |accessdate=2008-07-25 }}</ref>

==Selected works== *''Land and Law as Agents in Educating the Indians'' (1885) *''Sidney Lanier, Poet and Artist'' (1887) *''International Arbitration'' (1897) *''The Highest Use of Wealth'' (1901) *''Men of Mark in America'' (1905-6)

==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before=William Henry Campbell| title= President of Rutgers University| years=1882–1890 | after=Austin Scott}} {{succession box | before=Julius Hawley Seelye| title= President of Amherst College| years=1890–1899 | after=George Harris}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Merrill Edwards}} Category:1848 births Category:1922 deaths Category:19th-century American biographers Category:American male biographers Category:American social sciences writers Category:Presidents of Rutgers University Category:People from Warsaw, New York Category:People from Littleton, New Hampshire Category:Family of Jonathan Edwards (theologian) Category:Presidents of Amherst College Category:Historians from New York (state) Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:The Albany Academy alumni