|
Leigh S. J. Hunt was born in Indiana in
1855. He obtained his undergraduate degree through Middlebury
College in Vermont via correspondence course. Hunt studied law
independently and passed the bar in Indiana. He then taught at
public schools in Indiana before moving to Iowa and becoming
superintendent of schools at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa (1880) and East
Des Moines Independent School District, Des Moines, Iowa
(1882). Hunt became the third president (1885) of Iowa State
Agricultural College (Iowa State University). His lack of
experience and aggressive style of leadership led to conflicts
with the students and faculty and he resigned in 1886 after only
one year.
Hunt moved to Seattle, Washington, and over
the course of his lifetime participated in a wide variety of
successful business ventures. He became a newspaper publisher
(1886), real estate developer, and president of a bank while in
Seattle. Hunt also would operate a gold mine in Korea (1893),
grow cotton in Sudan (1904 -1910), and eventually pursue mining,
agriculture, and land development in Las Vegas, Nevada (1923 -
1933).
In 1885,
Hunt married Jessie Noble (attended Iowa State, 1882) of Des
Moines and had two children: Helen and Henry. Leigh Hunt died
on October 5, 1933, in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
