John R. Conniff

John Robinson Conniff, Sr. (January 20, 1874 – January 20, 1957) was an educator from New Orleans, Louisiana, who served from 1926 to 1928 as the seventh president of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in Lincoln Parish in North Louisiana.

Background

Conniff was the oldest of five children born in New Orleans to the former Mary Orleana Robinson (1850-1917), whose family tree is traced to a family in colonial Delaware, the president of the Crescent News and Hotel Company with interests also in the New Orleans entertainment industry—the St. Charles Theatre, the Academy of Music, and the Grand Opera House. The senior Coniffs are interred at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.

Young Coniff graduated in 1890 from the high school of Roman Catholic-affiliated Tulane University. In 1894, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane, where he became affiliated with Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Conniff then studied law for a year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. under superintendent T. H. Harris.

Conniff was a devotee of physical education and was the president of the first Tulane Baseball League and the Southern Athletic Club of New Orleans. In 1905, he helped to establish the Public School Athletic League of New Orleans and served as its long-term secretary. Considering his father's ownership of entertainment enterprises, Conniff participated in theatrical performances in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where he helped to create the Little Theatre Guild. In 1923, while working at the state education department, Conniff received his Master of Arts degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His thesis entails a study of English drama and theatrical performances prior to 1642. At Warren Easton, Conniff resumed his teaching of English and Latin. During summers he taught the History of Louisiana at his alma mater, Tulane University.

Death

Conniff and his wife, the former Bertha Drott (1882-1971), had one son, John R. Conniff, Jr. (1906-1968).