Name Georg Grossman | Died August 24, 1897 | |
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Georg M. Grossman (October 10, 1823, Groß-Bieberau, Grand Duchy of Hesse - August 24, 1897) was a German-American Lutheran academic and church leader.
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Background
Georg Martin Grossman was born in Groß-Bieberau, a town in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany. He studied theology at Erlangen and later at Nürnberg. He was strongly influenced by a mission-minded pastor, Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. Grossman subsequently immigrated to the United States where he became one of the organizers of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa, serving as its president from 1854 through 1893.
Grossmann had originally been sent by Pastor Löhe to establish a teacher-training school for German immigrants in America. Grossman served as the founder of this school, Wartburg College, with five students in 1852 and would serve as president of the college from 1852 until 1868. Starting in Saginaw, Michigan, the location of the college would be moved many times between Illinois and Iowa until permanently settling in Waverly, Iowa in 1935.
Legacy
Today Wartburg College is a four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Grossmann and Löhe Halls at Wartburg College are named in memory of Georg Grossmann and his mentor Pastor Löhe. The Franklin I. and Irene List Saemann Foundation was founded by Irene List Saemann, granddaughter of Georg M. Grossman, to support Wartburg College.