George Augustus Gates
George Augustus Gates was an American Congregational minister and university administrator. He was the president of Grinnell College from 1887 to 1900, Pomona College from 1902 to 1909, and Fisk University from 1909 to 1912.Early life
George Augustus Gates was born on January 24, 1831 in Topsham, Vermont. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1873. After studying in Germany for two years, he graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1880, when he was ordained as a Congregationalist minister.Career
Gates served as a Congregationalist minister in Upper Montclair, New Jersey from 1880 to 1887. He was also the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Cheyenne, Wyoming from January to November 1901.
Gates was the president of Iowa College, now known as Grinnell College, from 1887 to 1900, and Pomona College in California from 1902 to 1909. He served as the third president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1909 to 1912. Upon his inauguration at Fisk in 1910, the university received $5,000 from the General Education Board.
Gates was awarded an honorary D.D. degree from Dartmouth College in 1892 and an honorary LL.D degree from the University of Nebraska in 1893. According to The New York Sun, "Dr. Gates was considered one of the foremost leaders in the higher education of the negro race."Gates married Isabelle Augusta Smith in 1882. He fell ill due to a "severe accident" in 1912, and died on November 20, 1912 in Winter Haven, Florida.Selected works
