Ezra Stiles

Scholar and clergyman, born in North Haven, Connecticut, USA. Besides conducting his Newport, RI ministry (1755–86), he was a theologian and scientist reputed to be the most learned scholar in New England. He wrote the charter founding Rhode Island College (1764) (later Brown University) and taught ecclesiastical history during his tenure as a secularizing president of Yale (1778–95).

The Rev. Ezra Stiles (November 29, 1727 - May 12, 1795) was a Congregational clergyman, theologian and president of Yale College from 1778 to 1795. Isaac Stiles in North Haven, Connecticut, Ezra Stiles graduated from Yale in 1746. He was pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island from 1755 until 1777, then at Portsmouth, New Hampshire from 1777 until 1778, when he became president of Yale until his death.

He was also a dedicated supporter of the American Revolutionary cause, and an avid amateur scientist who corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin about scientific discoveries. In addition, Stiles took the opportunity to improve his rudimentary knowledge of the Hebrew language, to the point where he and Carigal were to correspond by mail in Hebrew.

Stiles' knowledge of Hebrew also enabled him to translate large portions of the Hebrew Old Testament into English. As president of Yale, Stiles also became its first professor of Semitics, and required all students to study Hebrew (as was also the case at Harvard); his first commencement address in September, 1781 (no ceremonies having been held during the Revolutionary War) was delivered in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. I have obliged all the Freshmen to study Hebrew.

The valedictorians of 1785 and 1792, however, did deliver their speeches in Hebrew.

Yale's legacy from this interest of Stiles' includes a portrait of Carigal by artist Samuel King, and the Hebrew words "Urim" and "Thummim" (אורים ותמים) on the Yale seal.

Named in his honor is Ezra Stiles College, one of Yale's newest residential colleges, and known for its successes winning the Gimbel and Tyng cups. The college's mascot is the moose, inspired by the installation in the dining hall of a stuffed moose head in honor of former college master and Yale president A. Adjacent to Ezra Stiles College is its near architectural twin, Morse College, named for Samuel F.B.