Samuel McCormick

Life & Legacy

Samuel Black McCormick (May 6, 1858 – April 18, 1928) was an attorney, Presbyterian clergyman, and educator who served as the third president of Coe College and the ninth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh.
He was the second child of Rachel (Black) and James Irwin McCormick and was named after his maternal grandfather. His father was a physician and classical scholar who schooled Samuel at home. As a teenager, after a brief stint in mercantile life, he returned to his studies with the assistance of his father and taught at schools in North Huntington, Pennsylvania. In 1877, he entered Washington and Jefferson College, graduating in 1880 with highest honors. For the next two years, he taught Greek at his alma mater and also at the nearby Canonsburg Academy. During this period, Dr. McCormick read the law with his uncle Henry H. McCormick, the U.S. District Attorney for Western Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the Allegheny County Bar in 1882.