Professor Gerrit J. Kollen
Pages 166-167 - PROF. GERRIT J. KOLLEN. Among the well-known educators of the State of Michigan, there is not one who has attained a higher degree of prominence than Prof. Gerrit J. Kollen, who is the most efficient, trustworthy and capable President of Hope College, at Holland, Mich. He is a product of Holland, where he was born on the 9th of August, 1849, being named in honor of his worthy father, whose life was devoted to tilling the soil in his native land.
When the subject of this sketch was about two years of age he was left fatherless, he being the youngest of five children born to his parents. As a youth he possessed an original and active mind; and being of a rather adventurous disposition and an inquiring mind, he looked below the mere surface of things and was considered a promising lad. In 1851, he, in company with his widowed mother, who is still living at the advanced age of ninety years, in full possession of physical and mental vigor, crossed the broad Atlantic to the United States, and with her settled in Allegan County, Mich., where his early schooling was obtained. In 1862, he entered the preparatory department of Hope College, at Holland, in which he took the full classical course, graduating in the year 1868. Very shortly after leaving school he engaged in teaching, and during the three years that he taught in the district schools of the county he made an enviable record for himself as an educator, and gained much practical knowledge of the requirements and duties of a successful instructor. At the end of that time he was elected Assistant-Professor of Mathematics in his Alma Mater, and in 1878 was made Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics, which position he held until 1885, when he became Professor of Applied Mathematics and Political Economy, and also had charge of the Chair of Logic. The duties of these positions he filled so ably, so cheerfully and to such purpose that in 1893 he was elected President of the college, a position his fine and cultured mind and his past experience as a disciplinarian eminently fit him for. Although the friend of all his pupils and their sympathetic adviser, he commands their utmost respect, and accordingly system and order are among the rules of his institution. He has proven himself to be the right man in the right place, and that the college is a popular one is attested by the fact that it is largely patronized.
Prof. Kollen was married in 1879, Miss Mary W. Van Raalte becoming his wife. She was a daughter of Rev. Dr. A. C. Van Raalte, the founder of Hope College and of the city in which it is located, and a sketch of whom will appear in another part of this volume. Prof. Kollen is a strong Protectionist and has taught that theory in his classes of political economy for many years. He is therefore in sympathy with the Republican party in his political views, and whenever occasion requires supports the men and measures of that party both by precept and example. The college at the head of which he stands was established by the Reformed Church of America, of which Prof. Kollen is a member, and in which he is one of the Elders. He has frequently been a delegate to the several synods and attended the last meeting of that body at Asbury Park, N.J. He takes an active interest in everything that pertains to the growth and development of the city of Holland, is an active member of the City Improvement Association, and is one of the Directors of the First State Bank of the place. In manners the Professor is genial, cordial and gentlemanly, and is an easy, fluent and interesting conversationalist. He has a pleasant smile and a kind word for everyone, and is highly respected, not only by the faculty of the college, but by the citizens of Holland generally.
Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company
Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 22 March 2003
URL: http://ottawa.migenweb.net/biographies/1893/kollengj.html
Contact County Coordinator: Evelyn_Sawyer@msn.com