Edward G. Coy, Headmaster, 1892 to 1904

A graduate of Yale, Coy was chair of the Greek department at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts before accepting the headmastership of The Hotchkiss School.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rev. Huber Gray Buehler, 1904-1924

Known as “The King,” Buehler was a graduate of Gettysburg Preparatory School, Pennsylvania College and Lutheran Theological Seminary both in Gettysburg. He left a professorship at his alma mater for a position as English master at Hotchkiss in 1892, becoming acting headmaster in 1903. A year later he became headmaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Walter H. Buell, 1924 to 1926

A graduate of Yale, he arrived at Hotchkiss in 1899 to teach French and German. When the Rev. Buehler died, he was appointed acting headmaster for a year and then headmaster for the school year 1925/26. In July of 1926 the board hired George Van Santvoord. Buell was known—not surprisingly—as “The Bull.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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George Van Santvoord, 1926-1955

The first Hotchkiss graduate to serve as Headmaster, Van Santvoord was a member of the class of 1908. From Hotchkiss he went to Yale, graduating in 1912. After serving as an ambulance driver in World War I—where he became a Sergeant in the U.S. Infantry and received the Croix de Guerre—he studied at Oriel College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning two undergraduate degrees as well as a master’s degree in English Literature. Prior to his headmastership, he taught at both Yale and the University of Buffalo.

 

The Reverend Thomas Huntington Chappell, 1955-1960

After graduating from Hotchkiss in 1924, and from Yale in 1928, Chappell taught French at Hotchkiss. He received his divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. in 1935. Prior to his headmastership he had been rector at several parishes in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the Dean of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Harrisburg, Penn., and a member of the faculty at Berkeley College at Yale University.

 

 

 

 

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Albert William Olsen Jr. 1960-1981

Olsen graduated from Hotchkiss in 1939 and Yale in 1943. He served with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and taught briefly at Hotchkiss following the war. After receiving a master’s degree from Columbia in 1948, Olsen taught at Deerfield Academy for five years before joining the English department at Hotchkiss. He became Associate Headmaster during the 1959-1960 school year, and was appointed headmaster the following year.

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy C. Callard, 1981-1983

A graduate of Princeton University, where he later worked in the Admission office, Callard came to Lakeville from Gilman School in Baltimore, Md. After leaving Hotchkiss, Callard became Head of the Upper School at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, Va.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arthur W. White, 1983-1989

White taught at Hotchkiss for 31 years before becoming first interim headmaster and then headmaster following Timothy Callard’s resignation. A graduate of Colby College, White was a member of the mathematics department, baseball coach, and dean of students before becoming headmaster.

 

 

 

 

Robert A. Oden Jr., 1989-1995

The first Harvard graduate to lead Hotchkiss School, Oden received a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s from Cambridge University. In addition, he earned a second master’s degree in divinity as well as his doctorate (in Near Eastern languages) from Harvard. He came to Hotchkiss from Dartmouth College where he was Professor of Religion and Director of the Dartmouth Humanities Institute. He is currently President of Carleton College in Minnesota.

 

 

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John R. “Rusty” Chandler, 1995-1996

A 1953 graduate of Hotchkiss, Chandler received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University. He returned to Hotchkiss in 1964, serving as teacher, coach, director of admissions, assistant headmaster, director of development and, briefly, the School’s 10 th headmaster.

 

 

 

 

Robert H. “Skip” Mattoon, 1996-2007

Mattoon graduated from Deerfield Academy and received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. He also holds a master’s degree from Tulane University and a doctorate from Yale. Prior to arriving at Hotchkiss he was Dean of the Faculty at Deerfield Academy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm H. McKenzie, July 2007
to the present

McKenzie graduated from the University of Cape Town with a bachelor’s degree in Literature and Philosophy. He subsequently studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a combined bachelors/masters degree in Literature and later, a second master’s degree in Linguistics from Lancaster University (UK). He comes to Hotchkiss from Atlantic College in Wales (UK) where he has been Principal since the fall of 2000. Prior to 2000 he was head of school at Maru-a-Pula School in Botswana.

 

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