The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Rutgers, Henry

RUTGERS, Henry, American philanthropist: b. New York, 7 Oct. 1745; d. there, 17 Feb. 1830. He was graduated from Columbia in 1766; served as captain in the Revolutionary War and later as colonel of New York militia, and entered the legislature in 1784 to which he was frequently re-elected. He was a member of the board of regents of the New York University from 1802 to 1826. His gifts to public purposes were many, the chief being $5,000 to Queen's College of New Jersey, which thereupon took the name of Rutgers.