John Stewart Bryan

John Stewart Bryan (October 23, 1871 – October 16, 1944) was an American newspaper publisher, attorney, and college president. He was the nineteenth president of the College of William and Mary, serving from 1934 to 1942. He also served as the fourth American chancellor of the college from 1942 to 1944. Prior to his service as president of the College of William and Mary, Bryan served as the publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the president of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. Early life In 1871, John Stewart Bryan was born in Henrico County, Virginia, to an affluent southern family. Bryan's great grandfather Joseph Bryan had been a congressman from Georgia from 1803 to 1806. His grandfather John Randolph Bryan was tutored by his namesake John Randolph of Virginia and ultimately relocated his family to Gloucester County, Virginia and then Fluvanna County, Virginia. John Stewart Bryan's father served in the Civil War before completing his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1868. By the time John Stewart Bryan was born, his father Joseph Bryan had taken on Richmond tobacco magnate Lewis Ginter as a legal client. In 1887, Bryan's father purchased the Daily Times newspaper (a forerunner of today's Richmond Times-Dispatch and Media General Corporation) from Ginter. Through a series of newspaper mergers and acquisitions, Joseph Bryan became the owner of both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Richmond News Leader.