William Howard Doane

Industrialist who composed Christian hymn tunes (born in Preston, Connecticut on February 3, 1832; died in South Orange, New Jersey on December 23, 1915).

Al­though he called music his “avo­ca­tion,” he pro­duced over 2,000 hymn tunes in his life­time. He was pres­i­dent of the J. A. Fay wood­work­ing ma­chin­ery com­pa­ny. In religious work he headed the Ohio Baptist Convention Ministers Aid Society for the Midwest. He was also choir di­rect­or at the Mount Au­burn Bap­tist Church in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, and be­queathed large sums of money var­i­ous caus­es. The Doane Me­mor­i­al Mu­sic Build­ing in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, was named af­ter him.