Co-founder and first Chancellor of Washington University. Contributed to public education in St. Louis; not a staunch abolitionist despite common belief; writings show complex views on abolitionism and slavery-related events; involved with Western Sanitary Commission.
Early trustee and benefactor of WashU, founder of Botany Department; large landowner and slaveholder in 19th-century St. Louis; enslaved more than seventeen people; legacy includes Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park.
