5th president (July 1, 1899 – November 5, 1925)
Born: November 5, 1855
Died: December 9, 1933
Born in Cambridge, Ohio, William Thompson attended Muskingum College, leaving in the summers to work on a farm, and graduated in 1878. He attended Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and went on to become an ordained minister. He moved to Colorado after the death of his wife in 1885 and turned to educational work at the college level. He became president of Synodical College of the Synod of Colorado and later returned to Ohio and served as president of Miami University.