James Augustin Brown Scherer

James A. B. Scherer (1870–1944) was a Lutheran minister who served as the last president of the Throop Polytechnic Institute from 1908 to 1920 prior to its renaming to the California Institute of Technology in 1921.^[1] He officially resigned in September 1920 after being on a health-related leave of absence since April 1920. He was later hired by Famous Players-Lasky as a screenwriter.^[2]^[3]

Preceded byWalter Alison Edwards

Preceded byGeorge B. Cromer

Succeeded byJ. Henry Harms

BornMay 22, 1870

Salisbury, North Carolina, US

Quick facts 3rd & last President of Throop Polytechnic Institute, Preceded by ...

James Augustin Brown Scherer
Rev. Dr. James A. B. Scherer in 1920

3rd & last President of Throop Polytechnic Institute
In office October 1, 1908 – September 12, 1920
Preceded by	Walter Alison Edwards
6th President of Newberry College
In office 1904–1908
Preceded by	George B. Cromer
Succeeded by	J. Henry Harms

Personal details
Born	(1870-05-22)May 22, 1870 Salisbury, North Carolina, US
Died	February 15, 1944(1944-02-15) (aged 73) Santa Monica, California, US

Before being asked by George Ellery Hale to serve as President of Throop, Scherer was a Lutheran minister, one of the founders of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church^[4] and also president of Newberry College, a Lutheran College in South Carolina that primarily trained young men for the ministry before it was secularized.^[5] He is responsible for the foundations of Caltech and helped bring Arthur Noyes and Robert Millikan to Caltech to complete the driving triumvirate.

After Caltech and his brief foray into the motion pictures industry, Scherer served as director of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian from 1926 until 1931.^[6]

Due to his fluency in the Japanese language, Scherer was employed during World War II by the United States Office of War Information to broadcast bi-weekly information and possibly propaganda from the American government directly to Japanese soldiers and civilians overseas via shortwave radio.^[7]

James Augustin Brown Scherer was born on May 22, 1870, to Reverend Simon Scherer and Harriet Isabella Brown Scherer in Salisbury, North Carolina.^[8]

Scherer died in his Santa Monica home at age of 73 on February 15, 1944.^[9]^[7]

References

[1]
"Fast Facts About Caltech History". California Institute of Technology.
[2]
"SCHERER QUITS AS PRESIDENT". Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1920. p. 1. Dr. James A. B. Scherer has resigned as president of the California Institute of Technology, It was announced yesterday by the board of directors of the school. Almost coincidentally, the announcement was made by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation that the noted educator had signed a long-term contract to write photoplays for the concern. Dr. Scherer, acting under the advice of his physician, presented his resignation to the board of the technology school last March. The board of trustees, however, would not accept it at that time, but instead granted him a six months' leave of absence from April 1, in the hope that he would be able to resume his executive work in the fall. But, while the summer's rest has improved his health, Dr. Scherer came to the definite that it would be unwise for him to undertake again the arduous duties of a college presidency, and insisted on the acceptance of his resignation. At a meeting held at the home of Arthur H. Fleming, president of the board, Saturday night, the following resolution was adopted: "That Dr. Scherer's resignation, which has been in the hands of the president of the board since March 8, 1920, be now accepted with deep regret, in that Dr Scherer feels the necessity of resigning the presidency, and with an expression of great appreciation on the part of the board of the extraordinarily effective and successful work that Dr. James A. B. Scherer performed as president of the institute." Pending the appointment of a new president, the educational affairs of the institute will be administered by a faculty administrative committee, consisting of Prof. Franklin Thomas, chairman; Arthur A. Noyes, C. K. Judy, chairman of the faculty; Edward C. Barrett, secretary of the institute, and H. C. Van Buskirk, recorder. This same committee has been acting during Dr. Scherer's leave of absence.
[3]
"DR. SCHERER SERIAL STORIES". Los Angeles Times. March 13, 1921. p. 100. Dr. James A. Scherer, former president of California a Institute of Technology here, has just returned from a trip to New York, where he sold the serial rights to two stories to the Doubleday Page Company. Dr. Scherer writing books and motion picture scenarios since his retirement college president, a position he gave up because of ill health. Dr. Scherer says one of the stories just sold, "Tall Timber" will be produced as a motion picture in the fall.
[4]
"SCHERER, James Augustin Brown". The International Who's Who in the World. 1912. p. 934 – via Google Books.
[5]
"Presidents of Newberry College". Newberry College.
[6]
Dixon, Keith A. (1983). "Early History of SWAA". SWAA Newsletter. 22 (2/3). Southwest Anthropology Association: 1–5. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
[7]
"DR. JAMES SCHERER, RETIRED PROFESSOR; Head of California Tech, 1968 to 1920, Dies". The New York Times. February 17, 1944. p. 19.
[8]
Drury, Aubrey (1944). "James A. B. Scherer". California Historical Society Quarterly. 23 (1): 92–92. doi:10.2307/25155834.
[9]
"Dr. James A. B. Scherer (obituary)". Los Angeles Times. February 18, 1944. p. 20 – via newspapers.com. The funeral of Dr. James A. B. Scherer, 73, former president of California Institute of Technology, who died last Tuesday at his Santa Monica home, will be conducted tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at the Todd Leslie Mortuary chapel, Santa Monica.

James Augustin Brown Scherer

References

Further reading

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