Albert H. Gallatin

Albert Horatio Gallatin, Phi, 1859, Phi Alpha 1881-1882

Albert Horatio Gallatin, Phi, 1859, Phi Alpha 1881-1882, was a “Renaissance Man” who
excelled in many fields of study. Brother Gallatin and his brother, Frederick, Phi 1861, came from a wealthy and prominent family in New York City. They were the grandsons of Albert Gallatin, a former United States Senator and Secretary of Treasury (1801-1814), who was a co-founder of the University of the City of New York (nee New York University).

Brother Gallatin served as a surgeon in the Civil War and as a professor of various
sciences at five universities. He was a professor of chemistry, geology and mineral
science at Norwich University (CT); a professor of chemistry at Rutgers Female College
(NY); a professor of analytical chemistry at NYU; a professor of analytic chemistry and
director of the lab at Cooper Union and a lecturer of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute (NY). He also studied at the Union Theological Seminary, was a curator at the
New York Lyceum of Natural History and a director of the Zoological Garden at Central
Park.

Brother Gallatin was also a visionary. At the Grand Chapter Convention of 1865,
Brother Gallatin reported that he would soon go to Europe and desired “to be invested
with the authority to investigate the desirability of extending Zeta Psi to the continent”
The motion carried. (The Story of Zeta Psi, 1932) There is no record of why the mission
failed; but, it demonstrates Brother Gallatin’s foresight as Zeta Psi became the first
American fraternity to establish a chapter in Europe more than 100 years later.

Brother Gallatin was also instrumental in the re-establishment of the Zeta chapter at
Williams College and the establishment of the Eta chapter at Yale University.