Overview

• Harrison Ruffin Tyler died on May 25, 2025, in a Virginia nursing home, ending the final direct link to an 18th-century presidential administration.
• Born on November 9, 1928, he was the son of Lyon Gardiner Tyler at age 75 and a maternal descendant of Pocahontas.
• Tyler launched industrial water treatment firm ChemTreat in 1968, building a client list that included Kraft and Philip Morris.
• In 1975 he purchased and restored Sherwood Forest Plantation and later financed the preservation of Fort Pocahontas, a Civil War earthwork.
• His 2001 donation of $5 million and thousands of historical documents to William & Mary’s history department led to its renaming in his honor in 2021.