Harry Bidwell Ansted

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by KasparBot (talk | contribs) at 16:06, 22 May 2016 (migrating Persondata to Wikidata, please help, see challenges for this article). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Harry Bidwell Ansted (1893-1955) was a United States Army officer, pastor and educator, and the first president of Seoul National University.[1]

Born on December 17, 1893, in Temperance, Michigan,[2] Ansted attended Hillsdale College and majored in Business at Greenville College. He then became a Christian pastor and served in several churches in Michigan for five years. In 1923, he acquired a bachelor's degree in University of Southern California, and went on to teach in Wessington Springs College, Los Angeles Pacific College, and Seattle Pacific College.

In 1944, near the end of the World War II, Ansted enrolled in the US Army as an Army chaplain. After his service in Leyte, Philippines, he was transferred to Korea, a southern part of which was under US Military rule at the time. It was here, in 1946, that he became the first president of Seoul National University, a new national university established in place of Keijō Imperial University. He also created the official motto of the school, Veritas Lux Mea, which is still used to this day. Ansted was succeeded by Lee Choon-ho on October 24, 1947.

Ansted died on December 16, 1955 in Seattle, Washington, and was buried in Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Rev Harry Bidwell Ansted". Find A Grave. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Rev Harry Bidwell Ansted in the U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 19 December 2014.