Samuel Peter Orth

Born in Capac, Michigan, in 1873, Samuel Peter Orth was an American attorney, educator, historian, and political scientist. He studied at Oberlin College, continued work in law and political science at the University of Michigan and Columbia, and built a career that moved between public service, teaching, and writing.

Orth taught political science and public law at Buchtel College in Akron, later practiced law in Cleveland, and served on the Cleveland Board of Education, becoming its president in 1905. He also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and lectured at several institutions before joining Cornell University in 1912, where he became Goldwin Smith Professor of Political Science.

He is remembered for books that explored how American society was organized and changed, including works on labor, party politics, immigration, and the history of Cleveland. Cornell's memorial for him emphasized how strongly he connected scholarship with active citizenship. Orth died in Nice, France, in 1922 while traveling abroad with his wife, Jane Davis.