Marion McKinley Bovard (January 11, 1847 – December 29, 1891) was the first president of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He held office from the school's founding in 1880 until his death in December 1891. At the time of its founding, the city of Los Angeles had only 11,000 people. Bovard oversaw the establishment of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (1880), School of Music (1884), College of Medicine (1885) and what would become the School of Fine Arts (1887). He was also the president during the creation of the precursor to the

Spirit of Troy The USC Trojan Marching Band, also known as the Spirit of Troy, represents the University of Southern California (USC) at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions. The Spirit of ...

and the school's first

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game in 1888. Upon his death, the fledgling school was still facing financial hardships that became the focus of his successor, Joseph P. Widney, M.D.

References

History of USC
Presidents of the University of Southern California 1891 deaths 1847 births {{US-academic-administrator-stub