George William Bond (April 6, 1891 – May 14, 1974) was president of two public universities in Louisiana, Louisiana Tech in Ruston and

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it beca ...

in Hammond, in the first half of the 20th century.

Background, education, and early life

Bond was born in

Summers Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

in Washington County in Northwest Arkansas to William Elijah Bond (1864-1953) and his wife, the former Martha Irene Simpson (1866-1940). He graduated from Cincinnati High School in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

in Washington County near Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bond served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He attended the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

at Fayetteville and

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, from which he obtained a master's degree in 1923. Bond married the former Mary Elizabeth Bost (1898-1997), also a native of Summers. She was a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

teacher.

Academic career

Bond first taught in the towns of Springdale and Cane Hill, which are also in Washington County. He moved to

Bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

, where he was superintendent of the public schools in Saline County in central Arkansas.''Ruston Daily Leader'', June 17, 1936, pp. 1, 4 He next served as a principal in Texarkana. In 1924, he relocated to Ruston, Louisiana to become an education professor at

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

. He was selected as the university's eighth president, serving from 1928 to 1936. While president, he continued to work on his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He resigned from Louisiana Tech before completing his terminal degree. Two weeks before leaving Louisiana Tech, Bond broke ground for the new $421,000 administration building known first as Leche Hall, after

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Richard Leche, and then renamed for John Ephraim Keeny, the sixth president of Louisiana Tech. ''The Minden Herald'' in

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

, Louisiana, reported in 1936 that Bond left Ruston to enroll in the doctoral program at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. From 1944 to 1945, Bond was the acting fourth president at

in Hammond.

Later years

In later life, Bond and his wife Mary Elizabeth lived in Searcy and Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they engaged in gardening, travel, and entertaining. They were members of the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

. He also was a member of the

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

. Mary Elizabeth was widowed and survived her husband by 23 years, continuing to live in Fayetteville. Both are interred there at Fairview Memorial Gardens.

References

External links

George W. Bond
Find-a-Grave
Mary Elizabeth Bost Bond
Find-a-Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, George W. 1891 births 1974 deaths People from Washington County, Arkansas University of Arkansas alumni University of Chicago alumni Educators from Louisiana Presidents of Louisiana Tech University People from Ruston, Louisiana People from Hammond, Louisiana People from Bauxite, Arkansas People from White County, Arkansas People from Fayetteville, Arkansas American Presbyterians United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American academics