educator, b. Marshall, Ohio. He attended Ohio Central Normal School (1876- 1878), and from 1879 to 1893 was engaged in educational work in Ohio, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1893 he moved to Wisconsin where he served as principal of the training department of the Milwaukee State Normal School (1893-1901). He also continued his college studies and graduated from the Univ. of Chicago (B.A., 1898). From 1901 to 1902 he was superintendent of the school for the deaf at Delavan. In 1902 he was elected state superintendent of public instruction on the Republican (Progressive) ticket, taking office in 1903, and after the state constitutional amendment of 1902, was re-elected on a non-partisan ticket until 1921. During his administration Cary was responsible for adding to his department a staff of trained educational experts, including supervisors and educational measurements, a supervisor of exceptional children, and a clinical psychologist. An aggressive administrator, he was involved in a series of controversies, especially when he felt attempts were being made to weaken or decentralize the authority of his office. He opposed the university's inspection of high schools on the grounds that it duplicated the work of his own office and fostered university domination of the schools. After 1917 he opposed the growing power of the state board of vocational education. He was defeated for re-election in 1921 by John Callahan (q.v.), then state director of vocational education. After leaving office he devoted his time to writing and lecturing on education. Madison Wis. State Journal, June 15, 1943; M. Curti and V. Carstensen, Univ. of Wis. (2 vols., Madison, 1949); C. E. Patzer, Public Ethic. in Wis. (Madison, 1924); School and Society, 14 (1921); Who's Who in Amer., 14 (1926).

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]