George H. Brimhall

George H. Brimhall (December 9, 1852 – July 29, 1932) was President of Brigham Young University. After graduating from Brigham Young Academy, Brimhall served as principal of Spanish Fork schools and then as district superintendent of Utah County schools, finally returning to Brigham Young Academy. He became president of the school, now a university, in 1903.

As a boy, Brimhall was taught to love learning by his mother, his first teacher. He studied under Wilson Dusenberry at the Provo, UT, Dusenberry school, where as valedictorian "for the first time I was applauded although my pants were patched." "My ruling passion has been to move men’s minds," said Brimhall, and his administration was marked by an emphasis on teacher training.

In 1911, Brimhall dismissed three faculty members who advocated belief in evolution and higher criticism. Brimhall had hired all three and was sympathetic to their views, but felt that their open opposition to Church leadership and goals was not reconcilable with the mission of the school.

Suffering from chest and abdominal pain, Brimhall resigned the presidency of BYU in 1921, although he remained head of the Department of Theology and Religion. He died in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Provo, UT, just four months short of his eightieth birthday.

References

Woodger, Mary Jane and Joseph H. Groberg, "George H. Brimhall's Legacy of Service to Brigham Young University," "BYU Studies" 43 no. 2 (2004), 5-46.