King, Henry Churchill, 1858-1934

Henry Churchill King was born at Hillsdale, Michigan on September 18, 1858. He received the A.B. from Oberlin College in 1879 and the B.D. from the Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1882. In 1884, after a year spent at Harvard University, he returned to Oberlin as Associate Professor of Mathematics. In 1890, he became Associate Professor and in 1891 Professor of Philosophy. He spent the year 1893-94 at the University of Berlin. In 1897, he succeeded President James H. Fairchild as Professor of Theology in the Oberlin Theological Seminary, a position which he held until 1925. In 1902, he relinquished his duties as head of the Oberlin Theological Seminary to assume the post of president of Oberlin College, succeeding John Henry Barrows. In 1918-19, President King was director of the religious work of the Y.M.C.A. in Paris. He joined Charles R. Crane in 1919 to form an International Commission on Mandates in Turkey to survey portions of the Turkish Empire following World War I. King retired from the presidency in 1927 and died in Oberlin in 1934.