Matthew Vassar (1792–1868)

American brewer, and the founder of Vassar College; a native of Norfolk, England; born on the 29th of April 1792, and accompanied his father to America in 1796, settling on a farm near Poughkeepsie, NY. Five years later the family removed to Poughkeepsie, where the father established the business of brewing ale, to which Matthew Vassar subsequently succeeded, and from which he derived large profits. In 1845 he decided to apply a portion of his fortune to the endowment of a school for the higher education of women. In 1861 he donated $400,000 to the institution that became known as Vassar College, located at Poughkeepsie, NY. Its success was immediate. Its growth was rapid and permanent. Its offer of superior advantages for the acquisition of sound scholarship and a practical education was accepted by students in increasing numbers. Mr. Vassar died at Poughkeepsie on the 23rd of June 1868, providing, in his will, for the further donation of $400,000, the same to be appropriated to the support of the institution.—His nephew, Matthew, a philanthropist, born in Poughkeepsie, NY, on the 11th of May 1809; became a partner of his uncle at the age of twenty-two, in the brewing business. Much of his fortune was spent in philanthropic enterprises, his gifts amounting to $500,000. Vassar College received $100,000 as an endowment for two chairs, and he helped build Vassar Brothers’ Laboratory, at a cost of $20,000. He and his brother endowed the Vassar Brothers’ Home for Aged Men in Poughkeepsie, the Vassar Brothers’ Literary and Scientific Institute, and the Vassar Brothers’ Hospital. He was the founder and president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in his town. He died on the 10th of August 1881.—His brother, John Guy, a philanthropist, born in Poughkeepsie on the 15th of June 1811, was also in the brewing business with his uncle. He spent thirty years traveling in all parts of the world. He was appointed one of the original trustees of Vassar College, to which he gave, besides part of the laboratory, $20,000. Most of his later years were given up to the completion and development of the Vassar Brothers’ Hospital. He published, in 1861, Twenty Years Around the World. He died on the 27th of October 1888.