Brown Ayres

Brown Ayres (May 25, 1856 – January 28, 1919) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was the president of the University of Tennessee and the acting president, dean, and physics professor of Tulane University.

Early life Brown Ayres was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 24, 1856. His parents were Elizabeth Little (née Cook) and Samuel Warren Ayrers, a lawyer.

He enrolled in an engineering course at Washington and Lee University when he was fifteen years old. He also founded and was the publisher of a tri-weekly newspaper, The Evening Review, covering Rockbridge, Bath, and Montgomery, Virginia. In 1871, he erected a telegraph line in Lexington, Virginia, and taught other students how to use the equipment;

He transferred to the Stevens Institute of Technology, graduating with a BS engineering in 1878. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi.

In 1904, Ayres became the acting president of Tulane University. however, for several years, it was named "Ayers Hall".

Personal life Ayres married Kate Allen Anderson of Lexington, Virginia, on July 5, 1881. The couple had three sons and five daughters. The family lived on St. Charles Avenue, in the Garden District of New Orleans. Their home was a gathering place for literary people who visited the city.

Ayers was the host and director of the New Orleans Choral Symphony Society. He was also a popular public speaker, known for his magic lantern shows. He was also involved with the New Orleans Electric Society and was a president of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists. He headed a building campaign and helped establish the Louisiana Industrial Institute, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Ayres died in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the age of 62 years. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Knoxville.