Professor Gerrit J. Kollen Pages 166-167 - PROF. GERRIT J. KOLLEN. Among the well-knowneducators of the State of Michigan, there is not one who has attained a higherdegree of prominence than Prof. Gerrit J. Kollen, who is the most efficient,trustworthy and capable President of Hope College, at Holland, Mich. He is aproduct 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 thesoil in his native land. When the subject of this sketch was about two years of age hewas 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 ratheradventurous disposition and an inquiring mind, he looked below the mere surfaceof things and was considered a promising lad. In 1851, he, in company with hiswidowed mother, who is still living at the advanced age of ninety years, in fullpossession of physical and mental vigor, crossed the broad Atlantic to theUnited States, and with her settled in Allegan County, Mich., where his earlyschooling was obtained. In 1862, he entered the preparatory department of HopeCollege, at Holland, in which he took the full classical course, graduating inthe year 1868. Very shortly after leaving school he engaged in teaching, andduring the three years that he taught in the district schools of the county hemade an enviable record for himself as an educator, and gained much practicalknowledge of the requirements and duties of a successful instructor. At the endof that time he was elected Assistant-Professor of Mathematics in his AlmaMater, and in 1878 was made Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics, whichposition he held until 1885, when he became Professor of Applied Mathematics andPolitical Economy, and also had charge of the Chair of Logic. The duties ofthese positions he filled so ably, so cheerfully and to such purpose that in1893 he was elected President of the college, a position his fine and culturedmind and his past experience as a disciplinarian eminently fit him for. Althoughthe friend of all his pupils and their sympathetic adviser, he commands theirutmost respect, and accordingly system and order are among the rules of hisinstitution. He has proven himself to be the right man in the right place, andthat the college is a popular one is attested by the fact that it is largelypatronized. Prof. Kollen was married in 1879, Miss Mary W. Van Raaltebecoming his wife. She was a daughter of Rev. Dr. A. C. Van Raalte, the founderof Hope College and of the city in which it is located, and a sketch of whomwill appear in another part of this volume. Prof. Kollen is a strongProtectionist and has taught that theory in his classes of political economy formany years. He is therefore in sympathy with the Republican party in hispolitical views, and whenever occasion requires supports the men and measures ofthat party both by precept and example. The college at the head of which hestands was established by the Reformed Church of America, of which Prof. Kollenis a member, and in which he is one of the Elders. He has frequently been adelegate to the several synods and attended the last meeting of that body atAsbury Park, N.J. He takes an active interest in everything that pertains to thegrowth and development of the city of Holland, is an active member of the CityImprovement Association, and is one of the Directors of the First State Bank ofthe place. In manners the Professor is genial, cordial and gentlemanly, and isan easy, fluent and interesting conversationalist. He has a pleasant smile and akind word for everyone, and is highly respected, not only by the faculty of thecollege, but by the citizens of Holland generally.

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & OttawaCounties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company

Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 22 March 2003
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