Charles Ezra Beury

• President of Temple University

Graduated from Shamokin Highschool in 1899.

Extensive experience in the fields of law, finance , social welfare and education has eminently equipped Dr. Charles Ezra Beury for his present responsibilities of president of Temple University which he has headed since 1926 as successor to its founder Dr. Russell H. Conwell.

         Doctor Beury was born at Shamokin, August 13, 1879, the son of William and Susan (Cockill) Buery, and the grandson of Christian Beury, a native of Devonshire, England, who came to the United States in 1837 and acquired extensive mining interests in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Like the progenitor of the family in this country, Doctor Beury's father engaged in the coal business and has come down in the history of the industry as a pioneer in the development of several important properties, including the Pocahontas and New River fields, both in West Virginia.

         After completing a general education at the Shamokin High School in 1899, Doctor Beury matriculated at Princeton University from which he was graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1903. Determined to pursue a legal career, he then enrolled in the Harvard Law School where he completed his training in 1906 and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws. Since that time several institutions of higher learning have honored him with a Doctorate of Laws, among them Ursinus College, which conferred the degree upon him in 1926, Lafayette College in 1928, The University of Pennsylvania in 1931, and Princeton University in 1937. He was also awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Hahnemann Medical College in 1932, and a degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Bucknell University in 1938.

         Doctor Beury devoted the year following the completion of his legal course to travel. In 1908 he returned to Philadelphia and established himself in a general practice of law in partnership with William A. Glasgow, Jr. He was associated with Mr. Glasgow, Jr., until 1920, when he was elected president of the National Bank of North Philadelphia and headed that institution for eight years. He was named president of Temple University on January 22, 1926, and has continued in this capacity with distinction and success. As an educator he has taken and increasingly active and important part in the affairs of several leading professional organizations, among them the Association of College Presidents of Pennsylvania, in which he has been president several years, and the State Council of Education of Pennsylvania, with which he has been identified from September, 1936, to January, 1940.

         Throughout he career Doctor Beury has been keenly interested in social and civic affairs. During the World War he served as director of the Victory Loan of North Philadelphia and made trips to Russia for the Near East Relief and the American Red Cross in 1917, 1918, and 1919, winning high commendation for the work he accomplished in behalf of these organizations. He was president of the Philadelphia Forum between 1928 and 1931 and again in 1938. Doctor Beury is a trustee of the Welfare Federation of Philadelphia, the Near East Relief and is a former trustee of the Germantown Young Men's Christian Association. He is an author of several works, among them "Russia After the Revolution," which was published in 1918. His leisure has largely been devoted to travel. He has made four around-the-world journeys, during which time he has accumulated information relative to the condition of the countries visited.

         Doctor Beury belongs to the Princeton Club, the Harvard Club, the Art Club and the City Club, all of Philadelphia, and also holds membership in the Philadelphia Country Club, and the Seaview Country Club. He is an honorary member of the Tau Upsilon Omega fraternity of Temple University, is a Republican in his political preferment and in his religious convictions worships at the Episcopal Church.

         On June 27, 1906, at Shamokin, Doctor Beury married Ella Philson Fischer, daughter of William E. and Annie (Philson) Fischer. They are the parents of the following children: 1. Charles William, born in 1907, and now deceased. 2. Elizabeth P., born in 1908. 3. Marian Fischer, born in 1910. 4. Nancy Lawton, born in 1917. 5. Barbara, born in 1919. 6. Charles Ezra, born in 1923

found at :http://www.geocities.com/audubonroo/Biography3.html#B

In a conversation with Laird Simons, grandson of Charles Ezra Beury, he told me about the photo hanging on his was signed by Helen Keller to Mrs. Beury. When Ann Sullivan went to Temple University to accept the honorary degree that Helen Keller declined, she was escorted around Philadelphia by my Great grandma and she signed the photo thanking her..

Uncle Laird also told me that Thomas Edison and grandfather Beury knew each other and were like friends.