Col. Karl S. Cate

Founding Chairman

Born in 1887, Colonel Karl Springer Cate came from a long line of Ivy League graduates and was himself a Harvard alumnus. In 1900, his family had a six-month sojourn in Paris, and his love affair with the city began. Cate became one of the most prominent figures in the Parisian American community of his time, serving on the boards of almost every American institution in Paris, including the American Cathedral in Paris, the Cercle Interallié and the Chamber of Commerce. In 1962, when Dr. Lloyd A. DeLamater was looking for an influential ally in Paris’s American community to help start the American College in Paris, there was no better candidate. Col. Karl Cate was essential to gathering support for the College and to providing access to a reliable health care system and other key amenities for incoming students. He was declared Founding Chairman of the Board in 1967 and passed away on November 2 of that same year. Although fully committed to his work, Cate was also a family man who preferred a simple life in the French countryside and enjoyed playing the piano well into his old age.