Hugh Huger Toland was born on April 16, 1806, in Guilder's Creek, Newberry County, South Carolina.

[2] After practicing medicine in Columbia, South Carolina, he arrived in San Francisco with his wife in 1851.

That year, Toland sought to affiliate the school to the recently created University of California.

He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery,[6] however his remains were moved to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California, by 1941.

[5] The same lecture hall features many murals, some depicting Hugh Toland himself.