James Monroe Taylor (August 5, 1848 – December 19, 1916) was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

minister who was the fourth president of

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

Education and career

Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on August 5, 1848, he was educated at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

, from which he graduated in 1868. He went on to study at Rochester Theological Seminary, becoming ordained as a

minister in 1871. He toured Europe in 1873, and then spent 16 years working as a minister around

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. Taylor became the president of Vassar College in 1886, and remained in the position until 1914.

Personal life

Taylor married Kate Huntington in the 1870s. The couple had four children. Taylor died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in New York City on December 19, 1916, only two years after retiring from Vassar.

References

* Haight, Elizabeth Hazleton (1919).
Life and Letters of James Monroe Taylor
'. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company. *Matsumoto, Lila (2005).
James Monroe Taylor
. Vassar Encyclopedia. Accessed January 19, 2020. *S. B. E (1920). "James Monroe Taylor". ''

The Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''T ...

'' 28 (3): 467–72. 1848 births 1916 deaths Religious leaders from Brooklyn University of Rochester alumni Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School alumni Baptist ministers from the United States Presidents of Vassar College Deaths from pneumonia in New York City {{US-academic-administrator-1840s-stub