Clark, William Smith (1826–1886)

US agriculturist and educator. He was the first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College 1867–79, which became the University of Massachusetts in 1947. In 1876 he helped to start what became the Imperial College of Agriculture at Sapparo on Hokkaido, Japan.

He was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College (1848) and gained his PhD from Göttingen, Germany (1852). He taught chemistry, zoology, and botany at Amherst College 1852–61. He served with the Union army during the Civil War.

He is revered by the Japanese (who in particular repeat his parting advice, ‘Boys, be ambitious’).