Paul Brandon Barringer

Paul Brandon Barringer, M.D., LL.D., (February 13, 1857 – January 9, 1941) was the sixth president of Virginia Tech, serving from September 1, 1907 through July 1, 1913. He was also chairman of the faculty at the University of Virginia from 1895 through 1903.

Barringer was the son of Confederate General Rufus Barringer and was named after his paternal grandfather, General Paul Barringer (1776-1835). His maternal grandfather Robert Hall Morrison, was a Presbyterian preacher and the first president of Davidson College. Barringer was a nephew of Civil War Generals Stonewall Jackson and Daniel Harvey Hill who married his mother's sisters. Barringer spent some of his childhood in Concord, North Carolina, where, as an eight-year-old, he beat Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis in a game of chess. Davis had just fled Richmond, Virginia after the surrender of Robert E. Lee.

Barringer received his M.D. degree from the University of Virginia in 1877 and also received an M.D. from the University of the City of New York in 1877. He practiced medicine in Dallas, N.C., for three years before going to Europe to study under medical specialists there. On his return from Europe, he settled on a farm near Charlotte, N.C., practicing medicine and farming. He also established and headed a medical preparatory school at Davidson College from 1884 to 1889, when he accepted a position as chair of Physiology at University of Virginia. He served as chairman of the faculty at U.Va. (then equivalent to president) from 1895-1903. From 1903 until he accepted the presidency at V.P.I. in 1907 at age 50, he was professor of therapeutics and pharmacology at U.Va. Barringer resigned the V.P.I. presidency in 1913 and returned to Charlottesville, where he practiced medicine with the exception of a few years in military service during World War I. He died in Charlottesville on Jan. 9, 1941, at age 83.

As chairman of the faculty of the University of Virginia, Barringer oversaw major revision of the medical curriculum with the addition of the clinical years of education. He also was the main driving force behind the construction and staffing of the first University of Virginia Hospital.

Dr. Barringer was the author of one of the standard works on the history of the University of Virginia: "University of Virginia : its history, influence, equipment and characteristics, with biographical sketches and portraits of founders, benefactors, officers and alumni." (1904)

Barringer Hall, a residence hall on the Virginia Tech campus that houses 220 male students is named for him. The Barringer Wing at the University of Virginia Health System, a hospital he was instrumental in founding is named in honor of Dr. Barringer.

His home in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Barringer Mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.