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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. His widow, Jane K. Sather, donated money in his memory for two of the school's most famous landmarks.

Sather Gate Sather Gate is a prominent landmark separating Sproul Plaza from the bridge over Strawberry Creek, leading to the center of the University of California, Berkeley campus. The gate was donated by Jane K. Sather, a benefactor of the university, in ...

and Sather Tower, which is more commonly known as ''The Campanile'', are both

California Historical Landmarks A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

which are registered

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Biography

Peder Pedersen Sæther was born in

Odalen Odal or Odalen is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, Norway. The district encompasses the area around the lake Storsjøen in the north and to the areas around the river Glåma in the south. The district is currently divided ...

, a traditional district in the county of

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

in eastern Norway, on the farm Nordstun Nedre Sæther (in what is now

Sør-Odal Municipality Sør-Odal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarn ...

). His parents were Peder Larsen and Mari Kristoffersdatter. Sæther was a fisherman before emigrating to New York City in about 1832. He entered the banking house of Drexel & Co. in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and remained there until 1850. Philadelphia banker

Francis Martin Drexel Francis Martin Drexel (April 7, 1792 – June 5, 1863) was an Austrian-American banker and artist. He was the father of Anthony Joseph Drexel, the founder of Drexel University, and present-day J.P. Morgan & Co, and the grandfather of Katharine ...

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 The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, and considered instrumental in developing the Amer ...

. Peder Sather was a trustee of the College of California, which would later become

the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

. 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. Sather's banking firm continued until being acquired by the

in 1910.

Peder Sather Symposium

The Peder Sather Symposium is a biennial event organized as a collaboration between the governments of Norway and Sweden and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. 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.

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 Lily Ross Taylor (August 12, 1886 – November 18, 1969) was an American academic and author, who in 1917 became the first female Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Biography Born in Auburn, Alabama, Lily Ross Taylor developed an interest ...

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

William Bedell Stanford William Bedell Stanford (16 January 1910 – 30 December 1984) was an Irish classical scholar and senator. He was Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin from 1940 to 1980, and served as chancellor of the University of Dublin from ...

John Myres Sir John Linton Myres (3 July 1869 – 6 March 1954) was a British archaeologist and academic, who conducted excavations in Cyprus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having been a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford and then Ch ...

, Brian Stock, and

Herbert Weir Smyth Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom h ...

.''Sather Classical Lectures''
(Classics Department of the University of California, Berkeley)

References

Other sources

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External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sather, Peder 1810 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American philanthropists American bankers history of San Francisco Norwegian bankers Norwegian emigrants to the United States Norwegian philanthropists people from Sør-Odal