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Matthew Vassar Biography

Matthew Vassar Image

VASSAR, MATTHEW (1792-1868). An American philanthropist, founder of Vassar College. He was born at East Dereham, Tuddenham Parish, England, and in 1796 was brought to the United States by his father, James Vassar, a wool grower, who in 1797 settled on a farm near Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and four years later established himself as a brewer there. In 1806 Matthew left home, and for four years worked in a country store near Newburgh, N.Y. Returning to Poughkeepsie, he entered his father's business as a bookkeeper. In 1811 the brewery was destroyed by fire, and the family reduced to comparative poverty. Matthew then began business as a brewer on his own account, and accumulated a large fortune. He contributed liberally to numerous, charities, but is chiefly remembered as the founder of Vassar College (q.v.). He died suddenly on June 24, 1868, while reading his annual report to the board of trustees of the college. Consult B. J. Lossing, Vassar College and its Founder (New York, 1867), and E. H. Haight, ed., The Autobiography and Letters of Matthew Vassar (ib., 1916).

The New International Encyclopaedia,Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 36.