John Leighton Stuart

United States state institutions 1876–1962 ○ Natural causes

Missionary educator, first president of Yenching University and US ambassador to China in 1946–1949

Born in Hangzhou to American Presbyterian missionaries, he studied theology in the United States and returned to China as a missionary educator. As first president of Yenching University from 1919 he built its campus and helped create the Harvard–Yenching Institute, and was sympathetic to students in the May Fourth and May Thirtieth movements. The Japanese held him for three years and eight months during the Pacific War. Appointed ambassador in July 1946, he mediated between the two parties with Marshall and carried on after Marshall left. He stayed on in Nanjing after the PLA entered in April 1949, left China on 2 August, and was mocked by Mao in “Farewell, Leighton Stuart!”. He died in Washington in 1962.