William Roberts McDaniel (August 11, 1861 – April 19, 1942) is the namesake for

McDaniel College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

Westminster, Maryland Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greate ...

Biography

William Roberts McDaniel was born in

Talbot County, Maryland Talbot County is located in the heart of the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 37,526. Its county seat is Easton, Maryland, Easton. The county was named ...

. He was the youngest child of a non-traditional family having two brothers, five sisters, two half-brothers, and two half-sisters. His father, John Wesley Sedgewick McDaniel, was first married to Sarah Wrightson before marrying her sister, Ann. It was Ann who later gave birth to William and his siblings. When he was just sixteen and a sophomore, McDaniel matriculated into Western Maryland College. Upon graduation in 1880, McDaniel earned the position of

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

of his class. McDaniel was an active member of the College's Alumni Association and received recognition for his outstanding service to his alma mater. Interrupting his doctorate from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

and his studies with world-renowned British mathematician

James Joseph Sylvester James Joseph Sylvester (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership ro ...

in 1885, he returned to school as a professor to fill in for Professor W.J. Thomas, who was ill. Thomas died three months after McDaniel took over, solidifying the position for McDaniel. After that, McDaniel continued to teach for 36 years. In 1888, after spending a summer at Harvard studying anatomy, hygiene, and gymnastics, McDaniel invented

Club swinging Juggling practice has developed a wide range of patterns and forms which involve different types of manipulation, different props, numbers of props, and numbers of jugglers. The forms of juggling shown here are practiced by amateur, non-performing, ...

, a form of exercise, which was discussed in his book ''Club Swinging by Note: A Method of Recording and Teaching Club Swings''. McDaniel was made treasurer of Western Maryland College in 1894 and maintained this position up until his death. In 1894, William McDaniel and Ada Smith were married in the home of Ada's brother in

. They lived in a home built by McDaniel College and located on its campus. This is where they raised their only child, Dorothy. McDaniel became vice president and acting president of McDaniel College in 1906 but declined the position of presidency in 1920 on account of his failing health. He died in 1942, aged 80.Biography at McDaniel College
mcdaniel.edu; accessed December 6, 2014.

Remembrance

In 2002, Western Maryland College was renamed

in recognition of his dedication to the School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDaniel, William Roberts Heads of universities and colleges in the United States People from Talbot County, Maryland 1861 births 1942 deaths