John Pierce Herrick and Margaret Brown Herrick
John Pierce Herrick (1886-1961) and Margaret Brown Herrick (1871-1954) had interests as broad as their country and as inclusive as their church. Each had led a full life before their marriage in 1926. After years together in northern New York, they retired to Los Angeles.
Born in Michigan, raised in Pennsylvania and self-educated, Mr. Herrick had become a promising publisher in Bolivar, New York, by the age of twenty-three. He successfully invested in oil and was elected to the Board of Governors of the International Petroleum Congress. After 1912 he settled in Olean, New York and expanded his interests into real estate and insurance. Years later he wrote an autobiography of his publishing experiences and an historical account of the growth of New York's oil industry.
Educated in Brooklyn and Cincinnati, Margaret Brown Herrick's work as a librarian led her to the Library of Congress during the First World War. Eventually her work brought her back to her home in Chariton, Iowa, where she founded the public library. In Olean, New York, after their marriage, Margaret actively aided students at Alfred University and endowed a cooperative girls' home.
Lifelong members of the Presbyterian Church, the Herricks shared their success with many colleges and universities across the country, endowing thirty-five perpetual scholarships under the names of great Americans. John Lafayette Herrick, their son, has endowed scholarships in his parents' names at several institutions including Occidental.