Arthur E. Bestor

Who was Arthur E. Bestor?

Arthur Eugene Bestor was an educator who served with distinction as President of Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York from 1907 to 1944. Bestor was a national force for adult education and under his twenty-five year administration, the Institution grew from an assembly for teachers and ministers with modest facilities to a wide-ranging summer program with a symphony orchestra, an opera company, a resident repertory theater company, and celebrated lecturers.

Arthur Bestor was married to Jeanette Lemon, and their three children who survived to adulthood were Arthur E. Bestor, Jr., Mary Francis Bestor Cram, and Charles Lemon Bestor. Arthur E. Bestor Jr. was a distinguished professor of American intellectual and constitutional history, and an important critic of American educational practices. Mary Francis Bestor Cram was a leader of lay organizations in the American Baptist Church and the Young Women's Christian Association, serving as president of the U.S. organization. Charles Lemon Bestor is a composer of contemporary classical music, a music educator, and professor of music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.