Every September at Peirce, we celebrate Founder’s Day in
honor of Thomas May Peirce, who founded the College (then called Union Business
College) in 1865. He would be the first of many Peirce family members to run
the College; for well over a century someone in the Peirce family led the school.
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Thomas May Peirce I |
Thomas May Peirce was not yet 30 years old when he founded
Union Business School, but he already had established himself as a leader and
innovator in the Philadelphia education community. The son and grandson of
teachers, Thomas May Peirce graduated from Central High in 1858 with a
post-secondary certificate, and after a period of travel and exploration, began
teaching in Philadelphia. He quickly rose to the position of principal at Mount
Vernon Grammar School, working closely with students to ensure they would do
well on their high school entrance exams. Peirce’s dedication to student
success led him to found his own school in 1865 to educate returning Civil War
soldiers and others for business positions that would need to be filled in post-war
Philadelphia and beyond.
The Peirce family came to Pennsylvania in the same time
period as William Penn, and as Quakers who later converted to Methodism, they
believed strongly in the value of education for both men and women. Thus, Union
Business College’s first graduating class was co-educational, a rarity for the
time period. Peirce worked to distinguish Union in other ways as well, including
adherence to a strict policy of academic honesty, and skills-based learning.
Though many schools promising a business education opened up after the Civil
War, part of the success of Peirce was TMP’s insistence on providing an
education that was immediately applicable in the professional world.
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Mary B. Peirce |
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Thomas May Peirce III |
In 1946, Thomas May Peirce III, grandson of the founder and
nephew of Mary Peirce joined the administration in a new position titled
“Managing Partner, Chief Executive Officer.”
A graduate of both Peirce and Dartmouth, he had spent several years in
business before returning to Peirce as an administrator. Peirce took on several
projects, including recruiting military students through the G.I. Bill and turning
the school into an accredited non-profit Junior College, paving the way to the
institution we are now. He retired in 1981, ending the family’s 116 years at
the College.