Charles Mills Gayley
Charles Mills Gayley (February 22, 1858 – July 25, 1932) was a professor of English, the Classics, and Academic Dean of the University of California at Berkeley between the fall of 1889 and July 1932. Biography Gayley was born in Shanghai to Irish-born American Presbyterian missionaries. In 1862, Charles' father (Rev. Samuel Rankin Gayley) became infected with cholera and died. Young Gayley's father was only 34 when he was buried on a hill overlooking the Straits of Pe-chi-li, China. Gayley soon relocated to Ireland with his mother, Sarah, where he was educated at Blackheath school and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Charles' stepfather, Rev. Andrew Brown, was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Hollymount, Ireland. Gayley earned his Doctorate at the University of Michigan and briefly served there as an Assistant Professor of English and Latin. While at Michigan, Gayley: (a) composed the Michigan college songs, "The Yellow and Blue" and "Laudes atque Carmina"; (b) developed a love of Shakespeare and poetry; (c) studied one year abroad at the University of Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany (emphasizing German, medieval European history, and Modern French History); and (c) accepted what he regarded as a call (within ten minutes of receiving it) to teach