Warren A. Cole

Warren Albert Cole (15 November 1889 – December 1968) [Registration card of Warren Albert Cole, draft board 41, North Easton City, Mass., at Ancestry.com, "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918" [database on-line] . Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.] [Ancestry.com, "Social Security Death Index" [database on-line] . Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.] was the founder of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, which is one of the largest social fraternities in the United States. Cole was born in Swansea, Massachusetts. He attended high school at both Taunton High and Fall River High School. While there, he was a member of Gamma Eta Gamma, a fraternity that may have shaped his future views for a collegiate organization.

Cole attended Brown University for a few weeks before transferring to Boston University School of Law in 1909. [cite book
last=Bly
first=Betsy K. (ed.)
title=The Paedagogus
edition=48th Edition
year=2000
publisher=Lambda Chi Alpha
location=Indianapolis
pages=62,64] The Boston University General Alumni Catalogue for 1918 does not list him as a graduate from any BU school in any year.

Cole was viewed as a congenial man, whose dogged persistence was, no doubt, the reason Lambda Chi succeeded. Cole started several fraternities that never caught on, including: The Lodge, Tombs, and Lambda Pi. After Lambda Pi he founded Lambda Chi Alpha, meaning "Loyal Collegiate Associates" before its name changed in 1913. [cite book
last=Bly
first=Betsy K. (ed.)
title=The Paedagogus
edition=48th Edition
year=2000
publisher=Lambda Chi Alpha
location=Indianapolis
pages=62] Cole was one of the three founders of Lambda Chi Alpha started November 2, 1912. He was a member of the Providence Alumni Association, grand president from 1904-14, registrar 1909-13, business manager magazine 1909-12, traveling secretary 1912-14, article contributor to the "Purple, Green and Gold" and "Cross and Crescent" magazines, delegate to three national conventions and an interfraternity conference. He was also in the jewelry business, served on the Massachusetts Highway Commission from 1911-12, and was an assistant at Brown Union from 1912-13. He was a member of H.dn , Loyal Order of Moose, and The Antient Free and Accepted Masons (The Freemasons). [cite book
last=Levere
first=William Collin
title=Leading Greeks
year=1915]

He married Lottie Mae Hathaway on September 13, 1910 and lived in Swansea, Massachusetts.

Cole resigned his membership in Lambda Chi Alpha during 1920 under allegations of financial irregularities and the alteration of official fraternity documents by other members of the fraternity's governing body. However, in 1957, he was reinstated as a member in good standing. [cite book
last=Bly
first=Betsy K. (ed.)
title=The Paedagogus
edition=48th Edition
year=2000
publisher=Lambda Chi Alpha
location=Indianapolis
pages=56,57 ]

He lived in Barrington, Rhode Island from about 1919 onward.

References