William Frederick Bohn (1878-1947), an assistant to two presidents, spent 50 years with Oberlin College beginning with his enrollment as a student in 1897. He received the A.B. degree in 1900, the B.D. in 1905, and the A.M. in 1908. In 1921 he received the honorary doctor of divinity degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1902 and held a pastorate for several years at Gentry, Arkansas (1901-1903), where he met his wife, the former Eva Beardsley (1880-1975). While a student in the Oberlin Theological Seminary he was pastor of the Congregational Church at North Olmstead, Ohio.

In 1902, Henry Churchill King (1858-1934)--sixth president of Oberlin College--in his inaugural address stated his intent to be the "educator" president. In order to give his primary attention to Oberlin's educational interests, President King created the position of Assistant to the President. According to the Oberlin College by-laws, the Assistant to the President was to "cooperate with the President in strengthening and developing the College on every side." The president assistant was also charged with, "the work of maintaining and enlarging the friendly and supporting constituency of the College, and of increasing its material resources." Thus, one of the primary tasks for the new administrative officer was fund raising, an area in which President King felt uncomfortable.

The Assistant to the President was also an ex-officio member of the Prudential Committee, a member of the General Faculty with the rank of Professor, and a member of committees reflecting the inner life of the College. As a member of the Commission on Development he was responsible for cultivating a constituency of people who believed in the aims and objectives of Oberlin College and could be solicited for financial support and philanthropic gifts.

In 1904, Charles Whiting Williams (1878-1975) was appointed as the first Assistant to the President. A year later, Bohn became secretary to the president, working with both King and Williams. Bohn also acted as secretary to the Bureau of Appointments from 1906 to 1915. After eight years as King's assistant, Williams left Oberlin to become the first executive director of the Cleveland Federation for Charity and Philanthropy. In 1913 Bohn was elevated from his position as secretary to the president, and was the second person to hold the appointment of Assistant to the President.

During the administrations of Henry Churchill King and Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1880-1966), Bohn succeeded in strengthening the powers of the Assistant to the President. He continued to raise funds for scholarships and the endowment, and was unofficially responsible for the progress of the Living Endowment Union. Bohn played a key role in Oberlin's first major fundraising drive, the Capital campaign of 1923. (The Campaign of 1923 was designed to raise over $4.5 million. In reality, it fell short of its stated goal. $3,182,000 was pledged, but only $2,431,000 had been paid as of 1945.)

Active in town affairs, Bohn was a member of the Exchange Club and a director of the Oberlin Savings Bank Company. During the first World War he was a member of the Public Service Reserve Corps and served on local committees for Liberty Loan Drives. He was president of the Oberlin Village Improvement Society (predecessor body to Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization O.H.I.O.), and of the Cemetery Association, as well as a member of the sanitary association.

On the religious front Bohn was a trustee of the First Church in Oberlin, director of the Congregational Foundation for Education, and member of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was a member of the national committee for the proposed merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical Reformed Church of America. For many years he was a trustee of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association, and had been chairman of the Shansi board from 1929 until his death in 1947.

In 1936, he was decorated by the Chinese government with the Order of the Jade in recognition for his service to China and efforts to promote Sino-American friendship. At the time of his retirement in 1944 Oberlin College's "curator of good will" was awarded the tenth Alumni Medal for notable service to Oberlin College.

William Frederick Bohn died at the age of 70 on December 22, 1947 of coronary thrombosis following a brief illness.