Lyon Gardiner Tyler
| Lyon Gardiner Tyler | |
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Tyler circa 1915
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| 17th President of the College of William & Mary |
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In office 1888–1919 |
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| Preceded by | Benjamin Stoddert Ewell |
| Succeeded by | J. A. C. Chandler |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 24, 1853 Charles City County, Virginia |
| Died | February 12, 1935 (aged 81) Richmond, Virginia |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Sr. (August 24, 1853 – February 12, 1935) was an American educator, genealogist, and historian.
Tyler was the fourth son of President John Tyler and First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler, born at Sherwood Forest Plantation. When he was eight, his father died, and this coupled with the beginning of the American Civil War prompted the family to move north to Staten Island, where his mother's family was from. He returned to Virginia in 1869 to earn both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in law from the University of Virginia, graduating in 1875. While at the University he was a member of Kappa Sigma and Jefferson Literary Society, and was recognized for his contributions to the school's literary magazine.
Upon graduation, Tyler spent a year teaching philosophy and literature at the College of William and Mary, but as the school was struggling financially it ceased being able to pay his salary, whereupon he resigned and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he spent several years as principal of a private school. In 1882 he returned to Virginia to practice law in Richmond. With the support of his mother, who lived there at the time, he began work on The Letters and Times of the Tylers, a three-volume study of the careers of his father and paternal grandfather, John Tyler Sr.. This would be published between 1884 and 1896.
During his life in Richmond, Tyler became a prominent advocate for public education reform. He helped to revive the Virginia Mechanics Institute, on whose board he served and at which institution he taught. In 1887 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, which gave him the opportunity to lobby for money for the College of William and Mary; he procured $10,000 to restore the school, which had lain dormant for seven years due to lack of funding and the ravages of war. This advocacy allowed the College to reopen in 1888; Tyler was named its president.
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