A native of Rural Retreat, Virginia, Stuart Kent Cassell, Jr. (1910-1976) first came to Virginia Tech in the late 1920s as an undergraduate, receiving a bachelor's degree in animal science in 1932 and a master's in economics in 1933. He became an instructor of agricultural economics in 1933, and in 1939 he was appointed state executive officer for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Appointed finance and business manager in 1945, he was an administrator under four presidents. He was instrumental in the planning and long-term development of Virginia Tech to accommodate its steadily increasing enrollment. He was also a member of the board of directors of VPI Facilities, Inc. and the Virginia Tech Student Aid Association. He was named Vice president for Administration by President T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. in 1966. He died in October 1976 at the age of 66. The Stuart K. Cassell Coliseum was named in his honor and dedicated on September 17, 1977.
From the guide to the Records of the Office of the Vice President for Administration, Stuart K. Cassell, 1945-1975, (Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)
