John David Alexander

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(October 18, 1932 – July 25, 2010) was an American academic who served as president of

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

during a period of time where he led a major expansion of the school, and served as US National Secretary for the Rhodes Trust, overseeing the selection process for recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship from the United States. Alexander was born on October 18, 1932, in

Springfield, Tennessee Springfield is a city in and the county seat of Robertson County, which is located in Middle Tennessee on the northern border of the state. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 18,782. Geography Springfield is located at (36.499508, ...

. He was raised in

Princeton, Kentucky Princeton is a home rule-class city in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 6,329 during the 2010 U.S. Census. Princeton is home to several notable attractions such as Adsmore Museum, ...

and graduated from Southwestern at Memphis College, now known as Rhodes College, graduating

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

and with honors in

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...

, and then attended

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, currently branded as Louisville Seminary, is a seminary affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), located in Louisville, Kentucky. It is one of ten official PC (USA) seminaries, though it current ...

. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar in 1954 and was awarded a doctorate in theology from Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Greek,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and church history.Hevesi, Dennis
"David Alexander, Overseer of Rhodes Selection, Is Dead at 77"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', July 30, 2010. Accessed August 2, 2010.McCrindle, mary
"David Alexander: US national secretary to the Rhodes Trust"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', August 3, 2010. Accessed August 2, 2010. After returning to the United States, he taught at

San Francisco Theological Seminary The San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) is a seminary in San Anselmo, California with historic ties to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). SFTS became embedded in a new Graduate School of Theology of the University of Redlands in 2019. It was ...

. He became the president of Southwestern at Memphis in 1965, where he desegregated the college's network of fraternities and sororities. At 33, Alexander was one of the youngest college presidents in the United States and was the first alumnus to serve in the position. He was named president of Pomona College on January 13, 1969.Pomon
"President David Alexander"
"Pomona College". Accessed January 3, 2011. During his more than two decades at the nationally ranked liberal arts college, he oversaw a major expansion in the school's endowment from $24 million to $296 million and the construction of numerous new buildings on its campus in Claremont, California.Staff
"David Alexander, James E. Akins, Sumbat Lapajian, Carl Gordon"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', July 27, 2010. Accessed August 2, 2010. He served as U.S. National Secretary to the Rhodes Trust from 1981 to 1998. The Rhodes Trust administers Rhodes Scholarships, which are the oldest and arguably the most prestigious international scholarships in the world. David was responsible for overseeing the selection of candidates for the 32 annual spots designated for residents of the United States to study at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

under which students may study any full-time postgraduate course offered by the university. Women first became eligible to be recognized as Rhodes Scholars in 1976 and during his tenure Alexander oversaw efforts to increase the number of scholarships applied for by and awarded to women. The annual selection process overseen by Alexander involved contacting officials at as many as 800 colleges and universities across the country. In 1992, for the first time, half of the Rhodes Scholarships awarded were granted to women.Staff
"Rhodes Scholars Selected, and Half Are Women"
''

'', December 7, 1992. Accessed August 2, 2010. He was designated as a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth II for his service to Oxford and was elected as a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2006. Alexander died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at age 77 on July 25, 2010, at his home in Claremont, California. He was survived by his wife, the former Catharine Coleman, as well as by two daughters, a son, and five grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, David 1932 births 2010 deaths American Rhodes Scholars Deaths from cancer in California Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Princeton, Kentucky People from Claremont, California People from Springfield, Tennessee Pomona College faculty Rhodes College alumni Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford San Francisco Theological Seminary faculty Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary alumni Presidents of Pomona College