11 Facts About Franklin Patterson

Franklin Kessel Patterson was a professor and author, and the first president of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Franklin Patterson was, along with the other presidents of the Five Colleges, a co-author of the New College Plan.

Franklin Patterson received his bachelor's degree from Occidental College, his master's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his doctorate from the Claremont Graduate School.

Franklin Patterson served in the US Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946, where he reached the rank of captain.

Franklin Patterson began his teaching career as professor at Tufts University from 1957 to 1966, and with Charles Longsworth, helped write The New College Plan in The Making of the College.

In 1966, Franklin Patterson was appointed president of Hampshire college by the founding board of trustees in 1965, initially supervising construction, and fund-raising, in preparation for the college's opening in 1970.

In 1971, Franklin Patterson resigned as president to accept the position of chairman of the college's board of trustees, founded as a "center for educational innovation" with four other colleges in central Massachusetts: Smith College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst College, and Mount Holyoke College.

From 1971, through the early 1980s, Franklin Patterson was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in political science and government, and served as secretary of the university board, as well as interim president from 1977 through 1978.

Franklin Patterson married Jessamy Longacre in 1937, and had two children: a daughter, Shelley Katherine, and a son, Eric.

Franklin Patterson later married Emily Goldblatt in 1972, with whom he had a son, Nicholas, but that marriage ended in divorce in 1972.

Franklin Patterson died on July 13,1994 of natural causes at his home in Framingham, Massachusetts, at the age of 77.