{{Short description|American university founder (1858–1948)}} [[Image:Cleary family grave plot Highland Cemetery Ypsilanti.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Cleary family grave plot. Owen Cleary's grave (right of center) is next to his father's (left of center), Patrick Roger Cleary]]
'''Patrick Roger Cleary''' (1858-1948) (known locally as '''P. R. Cleary''') was the founder and namesake of Cleary University in Howell, Michigan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cleary.edu/about/history/index.aspx |title=Cleary University: History |accessdate=2013-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121229102344/http://www.cleary.edu/about/history/index.aspx |archivedate=2012-12-29 }}</ref>
Patrick Roger Cleary was born in Nenagh in Ireland in 1858.<ref name=YG>Ann Cleary Kettles, ''Ypsilanti Gleanings'', Spring 2006, http://ypsigleanings.aadl.org/ypsigleanings/15183</ref> After his parents' death when he was eight years old, the Tuthill family, his father's employer, took in Cleary and his younger sister and gave them an English education.<ref name=YG /> The Tuthills eventually sent the children to their older siblings who had earlier moved to the United States because of the poor economy in Ireland.<ref name=YG />
The children went from New York and to Hubbardston, Michigan and then completed grade school and high school within a total of four years.<ref name=YG /> After he eventually attended Valparaiso University in Indiana studying business and particularly business penmanship which was very important before the invention of the typewriter.<ref name=YG /> After graduating, he traveled around the area teaching penmanship after placing ads in local newspapers.<ref name=YG />
In 1883 Cleary settled in Ypsilanti planning on teaching students at what is now Eastern Michigan University, and he started his first class in rented space.<ref name=YG /><ref>Laura Bien, ''Hidden History of Ypsilanti'' (The History Press, Oct 6, 2011), pp. 119-125 https://books.google.com/books?id=qFbFd-yibP4C</ref>
By 1885 he constructed a new school building and formed a board of trustees.<ref name=YG /> At this time he married Helen Clarke Jenks from St. Clair, Michigan and they had four children, Charles, Marjorie, Ruth and Owen, all of whom attended Cleary College and Eastern Michigan University, and all of whom later worked at Cleary College. Helen Cleary also worked at the school and was an active member of the Ladies Literary Club and the local Congregational church.<ref>Principal women of America - Volume 2 (Mitre Press, 1936) p. 72.</ref>
After his retirement in 1938 Cleary returned to his hometown in Ireland and drove around the nation.<ref name=YG /> He visited Éamon de Valera, Prime Minister of Ireland and the Irish legislature and then travelled around England where he was introduced in the House of Commons. In 1939 his wife, Helen, died.<ref name=YG />
In 1938 his son Owen Cleary became president of school, but during World War II, his father had to become President again, after the Governor requested that Owen form and lead the “Michigan State Troops” after the Michigan National Guard was called up in 1942.<ref name=YG /> After the War, Owen returned as president and then became a Republican politician in Michigan. Patrick Cleary died in 1948 at age 90.<ref name=YG /><ref>History of Cleary College by Nancy Snyder, available in the Historical Museum Archives.</ref><ref>Ashlee, Laura Rose, ed. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xd-mh9r0zEkC ''Traveling Through Time: A Guide to Michigan's Historical Markers''], rev. ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: The University of Michigan Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xd-mh9r0zEkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA441#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 441].</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Patrick Roger}} Category:1858 births Category:1948 deaths Category:People from Hubbardston, Michigan Category:People from Nenagh Category:University and college founders Category:Valparaiso University alumni