August 17, 2016

George Peters Rea becomes the president of Drexel in 1942 after working as the first paid president of what is now the American Stock Exchange. At the time, he was said to be one of the youngest American college presidents. His business acumen was desirable, since the institute had been suffering from financial and enrollment hardships as a result of World War II. However, his laid-back style and habit of making decisions without the approval of the faculty senate or Drexel community, like the selling of Drexel’s art and manuscript collection in 1944, are extremely controversial. He resigns in 1944 to return to private business, later serving as the governor of the State Bank of Ethiopia and dying in 1978 at age 84.