Vincent, George Edgar

Vincent, George Edgar, 1864–1941, American educator, organizer, and sociologist, b. Rockford, Ill., grad. Yale, 1885, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1896; son of Bishop John Heyl Vincent. He was associated with his father in the Chautauqua movement and was president (1907–15) of the Chautauqua Institution. Always a popular lecturer, he became noted for his wit and clear thinking. Vincent taught sociology at the Univ. of Chicago from 1894 to 1911 and was dean of the faculty of arts, literature, and science from 1907. In 1911 he became president of the Univ. of Minnesota. From 1917 until his retirement in 1929 he headed the Rockefeller Foundation, which under him expanded its activities, especially in medical aid and research. He wrote An Introduction to the Study of Society (with A. W. Small, 1894) and Social Mind and Education (1897).