George Whitaker

George Whitaker (May 14, 1836 – November 1, 1917) was an American minister and university president in Texas and Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he served as the president of Wiley College in Texas, along with Willamette University and Portland University in Oregon. A Methodist trained preacher and graduate of Wesleyan University, he also worked as a pastor across the country in the late 19th century, primarily in New England.

Early years George Whitaker was born on May 14, 1836, to Catherine Cravath Holland and Edgar Kimball Whitaker in Boston, Massachusetts. Raised on a farm, he was the third oldest among eleven children in the family. His father was a merchant of English heritage who worked for the United States Customs in Boston and New Orleans, also acting as a clerk in Washington, D.C. for the Department of the Treasury. At the school he was a member of the Phi Nu Theta and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities. Whitaker then started working as a pastor for the Methodist Episcopal church in West Medway, Massachusetts, in 1861 and remained until 1863. In 1863, he moved on to the church in South Walpole where he remained until 1864. Serving as president from 1888 until 1891, he also was granted a doctor of divinity from Fort Worth University in Texas in 1890. Whitaker also served on the faculty as a professor of mental and moral science. As president he banned talking between the sexes at the school and banned walking with members of the opposite sex, which was unusual for the school.