Nicanor Reyes, Sr.

Nicanor I. Reyes Sr. was the founder and first president of the Far Eastern University in the City of Manila. He envisioned a school that would promote the teaching of accounting to Filipinos, a profession formerly available only to foreigners. He wanted to prove that Filipinos were capable and trustworthy in handling the hundred of enterprises that would result with the coming of the independence of the country.

He earned an A.B. in 1915 from the University of the Philippines, a bachelor's degree in Commercial Science from New York University in 1917, and a Master of Arts degree in Business Administration from Columbia University the following year. He received his Ph.D. in Accountancy from Columbia - the first Filipino to do so, which was also the first degree of its kind to be awarded by Columbia. During the Pacific War, the Japanese killed Dr. Nicanor Reyes and some members of his family. His son, Nicanor M. Reyes, Jr., later became president of FEU.