Born in 1874 to immigrant parents who farmed in rural Homer, Alvin Saunders Johnson grew up to co-found a prestigious university in New York City, the New School. As the college president for twenty-three years, Johnson is said to have "committed one of its most historically significant acts in establishing the University in Exile." During the 1930s and through WWII, Johnson was instrumental in rescuing German Jewish scholars from persecution by Hitler.

Photo Gallery: Nebraska's Schindler