[5] John Stewart Bryan's father served in the Civil War before completing his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1868.

[7] In 1887, Bryan's father purchased the Daily Times newspaper (a forerunner of today's Richmond Times-Dispatch and Media General Corporation) from Ginter.

While his father ran the fledgling Times newspaper, the younger Bryan graduated in 1893 from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall.

[10] After a brief stint as a lawyer in New York, Bryan returned to Richmond in 1898 to form a joint practice with Murray Mason McGuire.

Early in the 1930s, as vice rector, he served under the erratic leadership of President Julian Alvin Carroll Chandler.

In addition to the financial struggles of the Great Depression, Bryan's tenure was also marked by the recent establishment and beginnings of Colonial Williamsburg.

Largely thanks to the vision of a William and Mary instructor, Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin and the substantial financial support from John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the William and Mary Campus had seen substantial construction on campus from 1928 to 1932, as historic buildings were restored to their 18th-century appearance.