Russell Herman Conwell (1843-1925)

Russell Herman Conwell was an American Baptist minister, lawyer, writer, and outstanding orator. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and for his lecture and book Acres of Diamonds. He was born in South Worthington, Massachusetts and was buried in Founder's Garden at Temple University.

During the American Civil War he served in the Union Army from 1862 to1864 and was commissioned a Captain. He was convicted of cowardice at Newport Barracks, North Carolina, and dismissed in disgrace. He studied law at the Albany Law School and became a lawyer. Russell Herman Conwell was a writer for the Boston Evening Traveller, first visiting and writing on Civil War battlefields and then on an around-the-world trip.