Georg M. Grossman (October 10, 1823, Groß-Bieberau, Grand Duchy of Hesse - August 24, 1897) was a German-American Lutheran academic and church leader.
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Grossman was born in Groß-Bieberau, a town in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany. He studied theology at Erlangen and later at Nürnberg. He was strongly influenced by missionary minded pastor Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. Grossman subsequently immigrated to the United States, where he became one of the organizers of the Lutheran Synod of Iowa, serving as its president from 1854 through 1893. [1]
Grossmann had originally been sent by Pastor Löhe to establish a teacher training school for German immigrants in America. Grossman served as the founder Wartburg College. With five students, Grossmann started the teacher-training school for German immigrants in 1852. Grossman would serve as president of the college from 1852 until 1868. Starting in Saginaw, Michigan, the location of the college would be moved many times between Illinois and Iowa until permanently settling in Waverly, Iowa in 1935.
Today Wartburg College is a four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Grossmann and Löhe Halls at Wartburg College are named in memory of Georg Grossmann and his mentor Pastor Löhe. The Franklin I. and Irene List Saemann Foundation was founded to support Wartburg College by Irene List Saemann, granddaughter of Georg M. Grossman. [2]