{{Short description|Norwegian-American banker (1810–1886)}} {{Infobox person | name = Peder Sather | image = Peder Sather in 1865.jpg | caption = Sather in 1865 | birth_name = Peder Sather | birth_date = {{Birth date|1810|9|25}} | birth_place = Disenå, Norway | death_date = {{Death date and age|1886|12|28|1810|9|25}} | death_place = Oakland, California, US }}
'''Peder Sather''' (September 25, 1810 – December 28, 1886) was a Norwegian-born American banker who is best known for his legacy to the University of California, Berkeley. His widow, Jane K. Sather, donated money in his memory for two of the school's most famous landmarks: Sather Gate and Sather Tower are both California Historical Landmarks which are registered National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/Peder_S%C3%A6ther|title= Peder Sæther |publisher= Store norske leksikon|access-date= January 1, 2018}}</ref>
==Biography== Peder Pedersen Sæther was born in Odalen, a traditional district in the county of Hedmark in eastern Norway, on the farm Nordstun Nedre Sæther (in what is now Sør-Odal Municipality). His parents were Peder Larsen and Mari Kristoffersdatter. Sæther was a fisherman before emigrating to New York City in about 1832.<ref>[http://www.disigen.net/Peder%20Sather.htm ''Peder Sather, a famous banker born at Sæther''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723094858/http://www.disigen.net/Peder%20Sather.htm |date=2011-07-23 }} (Slekt i Sør Odal)</ref> He entered the banking house of Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia and remained there until 1850.<ref>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18861229.2.86 ''Death of a Prominent Ban Francisco Banker at Oakland''] (Daily Alta California. December 29, 1886)</ref>
Philadelphia banker Francis Martin Drexel offered to assist Peder Sather and his business partner Edward W. Church in establishing a bank in San Francisco. In 1850, Sather and Church moved to San Francisco and established the banking firm of Drexel, Sather & Church. From 1863, Peder Sather became the sole owner of the bank. He went on to become one of California’s richest men. Upon his death, the Sather and Church banking firm was absorbed by the Bank of California. Peder Sather was a trustee of the College of California, which would later become the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://sathercenter.berkeley.edu/about-peder-sather/|title= About Peder Sather|publisher= Peder Sather Center|access-date= March 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.shippassengers.com/vips/Peder-Sather.html|title= Peder Sather|publisher= shippassengers|access-date= March 5, 2016|archive-date= March 10, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160310024151/http://www.shippassengers.com/vips/Peder-Sather.html|url-status= dead}}</ref>
Peder Sather married a second time, in 1882, the widow Jane Krom Read (1824-1911). Four years later, after her husband's death she donated money for the construction of Sather Gate and Sather Tower at UC Berkeley, both of which are named in his honor. She also created an endowment for the Sather Professorship of Classical Literature at the University.<ref>[http://www.classics.berkeley.edu/people/sather/history ''A Brief History of the Sather Professorship''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903102753/http://www.classics.berkeley.edu/people/sather/history |date=2018-09-03 }} University of California ~ Berkeley</ref><ref>[http://mountainviewpeople.blogspot.com/2009/12/jane-krom-sather-1824-1911-left-huge.html Jane Krom Sather (1824 -1911) - Left Huge Bequest to University of California at Berkeley] (Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland)</ref> Sather's banking firm continued until being acquired by the Bank of California in 1910.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University of California Press| isbn = 978-0-520-95712-1| last1 = Sveen| first1 = Karin| last2 = Haveland| first2 = Barbara J.| last3 = Starr| first3 = Kevin| title = The Immigrant and the University: Peder Sather and Gold Rush California| location = Berkeley, UNITED STATES| accessdate = 2023-05-27| date = 2014| url = https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1574612}}</ref>
==Peder Sather Symposium== left|thumb|Sather Gate at UC Berkeley The Peder Sather Symposium is a biennial event organized as a collaboration between the governments of Norway and Sweden and UC Berkeley. The stated goal of the symposium is to promote the understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues. It is designed to foster interdisciplinary discussion among scholars and policymakers on global and national issues of mutual concern.<ref>[http://matrix.berkeley.edu/event/peder-sather-symposium ''Peder Sather Symposium''] (The Regents of the University of California )</ref>
==Sather Classical Lectures== The Sather Classical Lectures are an annual presentation by a selected scholar (the Sather Professor) on topics from the Greek and Roman world of antiquity. The lectures are usually about six in number, and are normally reprinted in book form. Among the distinguished appointees have been Lily Ross Taylor, Ronald Syme, William Bedell Stanford, John Myres, Brian Stock, and Herbert Weir Smyth.<ref>[https://www.ucpress.edu/series.php?ser=scl ''Sather Classical Lectures''] (Classics Department of the University of California, Berkeley)</ref>
==See also== * {{annotated link|Arabic Case}} * {{annotated link|Francis Bruguière}} * {{annotated link|Margaret Van Alen Bruguiére}} * {{annotated link|Peter Cooper Hewitt}} * {{annotated link|Sather}} * {{annotated link|Sather Tower}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Other sources== * {{cite book |last1=Dow |first1=Sterling |author1-link=Sterling Dow |year=1965 |title=Fifty Years of Sathers: The Sather Professorship of Classical Literature in the University of California, Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press}} * {{cite book |last1=Sveen |first1=Karin |author1-link=Karin Sveen |year=2014 |title=The Immigrant and the University. Peder Sather and Gold Rush California |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520276482}}
==Further reading== * Alexander, William Hardy ''The Sather Classical Lectures'' (Classical Association of the Atlantic States. ''The Classical Weekly'', Volume 48, No. 2 January 3, 1955)
==External links== * {{cite web| url = http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume24/vol24_8.html| title = Gold, Salt Air, and Callouses| author = Thomas I. Benson| publisher = NAHA \\ Norwegian American Studies (Volume 24: Page 193)| access-date = 2007-04-03| archive-date = 2007-08-05| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070805231010/http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume24/vol24_8.html| url-status = dead}} * {{cite web | url = http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=9143&idx_id=9143&uid=ny&idx_side=-56 | title = Peder Sather's birth in Norwegian churchbook | access-date = 2008-11-16}} * {{cite web | url = http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=sather&GSfn=jane&GSmn=k&GSby=1824&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1911&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=8862281& | title = Jane K. Sather at Findagrave.com | website = Find a Grave | access-date = 2008-11-16}} * {{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/09/25/104654772.pdf | title = The New York Times about Josephine Bruguière's death | access-date = 2008-11-17 | date=September 25, 1915}} * {{cite news | url = http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/01/17/kultur/litteratur/bok/litteraturanmeldelse/litteraturanmeldelser/15094178/ | title = The farmers son from Odalen in Norway who became one of the richest in Californias (A book review, in Norwegian) | access-date = 2011-01-17 | date=January 17, 2011}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sather, Peder}} Category:1810 births Category:1886 deaths Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:19th-century American philanthropists Category:Bankers from California Category:history of San Francisco Category:Norwegian bankers Category:Norwegian emigrants to the United States Category:Norwegian philanthropists Category:People from Sør-Odal Municipality