Reuben D. Law

On July 2, 1954, David O. McKay announced the establishment of a college in Hawaii. Reuben D. Law was appointed as the first president of the two-year Church College of Hawaii. Under his leadership, 153 students enrolled and studied in a temporary campus with 20 faculty.

Law was born on March 19, 1903, in Avon, Utah. He studied at Brigham Young University (then Brigham Young College) and Utah State Agricultural College, and earned his master’s degree in education and educational administration and his EdD in teacher education from the University of Southern California.

During his career he was an elementary school principal, high school teacher and principal and school superintendent. He was on the faculty of BYU and served as dean of BYU’s college of education from 1946 to 1954. After his service in Hawaii, he served on the Utah State Board of Education; he was chair from 1976 to 1977.

Law served as a member of the Sunday School general board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also a sealer in the Provo Utah Temple. He and his first wife, Leda, were parents of five children. After her death in 1973, he married Lue Groesbeck. She died in 1978. Law died on April 19, 1981.