Born: July 15, 1888
Died: May 26, 1965
Married: Eleanor MacArthur
Children: Mrs. George Waters, Elizabeth MacArthur
Earl C. MacArthur was the founding president of Paul Smiths College, serving from 1937 to 1945, years during which the college was being organized. The college's first years were filled with uncertainty, since the will of Phelps Smith, that endowed the college, was being contested by relatives. World War II also delayed the opening, though the campus was used for training a contingent of WACs. He resigned a year before the college was to open, over a disagreement with the board of trustees.
MacArthur was the son of Clarence A. MacArthur who ran McColloms Hotel. The family lost the hotel after the elder MacArthur's death in 1913, but Earl was able to buy it back a few years later.
He was educated in McColloms and in Malone, and graduated in 1910 from Yale University, after which he taught English for thirty years at the Peddie School in New Jersey.
Source: Geraldine Collins, The Brighton Story
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, May 26, 1965
PAUL SMITHS 1ST PRESIDENT DIES AT AGE 76
Earl C. MacArthur Helped in Founding
Earl C. MacArthur, 76, who was instrumental in founding Paul Smith's College and served as its first president from 1937 to 1945, died Monday evening at his home in Keuka Park.
He was born at McColloms on July 15, 1888 and received his early education there and in the Malone schools. He was graduated from Yale College in 1910 and taught English at Peddie Institute in Highstown, N. J. for 29 years.
Mr. MacArthur was named in the original Paul Smith's College charter, granted by the State Board of Regents in 1937, according to the will of Paul Smith. Litigation by some of Smith's relatives and World War II prevented the college from opening until September of 1946 but the campus was used, during Mr. MacArthur's tenure, for training a WAC contingent, to base a Signal Corps unit and for summer training for teachers.
Frederick G. Leisure was president of the college from 1946 to 1948 when the present president, Dr. Chester L. Buxton was appointed.
Mr. MacArthur also taught several years in the Associated Colleges of the State of New York which had branches in this area.
Survivors are his wife, Eleanor; two daughters, Mrs. George Waters of Berea, Ohio and Miss Elizabeth MacArthur of Newark, N. J.; two grandchildren and several cousins of this area.
The funeral service will be held at 2 p. m. Thursday at the Weldon Funeral Home in Penn Yan
