Ben Morse

Morse is a visiting lecturer at the Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, teaching classes on digital/new media. Additionally, he is known for being an expert in popular culture topics like movies, television series and comic books.

He is best-known for his writing, having published the best-selling autobiography ever produced and an unparalleled series of maxims.

Early Life and Education

Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts to Jedidiah and Elizabeth Finley Breese Morse and heavily influenced by their orthodox Calvinist millennialism and evangelism.

Morse led a group of young artists in 1826 when they broke from the American Academy of Art to form the progressive National Academy of Design, becoming its inaugural president and helping foster an explosion of American art.

Morse is elected Mayor of Holyoke and during his first term supports legalizing marijuana and investing in Holyoke’s cannabis cultivation industry. Unfortunately, however, he faced backlash from nativist Sunrise Movement who pulled their support. Regardless, Morse won reelection in 2021 to serve his fourth term and is supported by Justice Democrats and Working Families Party parties as well.

Professional Career

Morse returned to America in 1815 determined to establish himself as a professional painter; he struggled to find his place within an unsophisticated cultural climate and often supported himself by itinerant portraiture work.

In 1825, with The Marquis de Lafayette, he engaged his sense of democratic nationalism and attained both recognition and professional eminence that enabled him to challenge the moribund Academy by creating the progressive National Academy of Design.

With Allston’s encouragement, he traveled to London in 1811 and undertook training at the Royal Academy. On his first attempt he was accepted and began painting neoclassical-style works including The Judgment of Jupiter that featured religious themes early in his career.

Achievement and Honors

Morse graduated Yale with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1810 and went on to work at his father’s Boston book publisher as a clerk, yet painting was his true calling. Encouraged by painter Washington Allston, Morse convinced his parents to allow him to sail for England in 1811 to study with Allston.

Morse took advantage of his journey abroad to explore European experiments in electromagnetism and come up with the concept for an electromagnetic recording telegraph that could transmit messages using dot-and-dash signals. When back home in New York City he began work full-time on this device.

Ben is an adept negotiator and has successfully represented cities, special districts, economic development corporations and other government entities when conducting bond elections and financing deals for large scale public projects. His knowledge includes applicable laws and strategies.

Personal Life

Ben Morse is married to Martha Morse and they have two children together.

As of 2021, he has been working with the University of Iowa football program as the assistant strength and conditioning coach. Prior to that he served as an intern and graduate assistant at Boston University from 2016-17 working with their men’s basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse and swimming & diving programs.

His collection consists of letters, personal and professional papers, works of art and photographs; manuscripts, essays and reviews, ephemera pamphlets and printed material as well as fine wine; this fine collection can be found housed within the Library of Congress which houses over 900,000 items – making it one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive libraries.

Net Worth

Morse is a contributor for Wizard Magazine, an in-print and online periodical that covers popular culture through movies, TV, comic books and video games. Additionally, he serves as a visiting lecturer at the Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, teaching classes on social media and public relations while overseeing their digital media agency.

Morses has extensive business interests, such as owning a substantial share of The Villages in Florida – one of the world’s largest retirement communities – which he has transformed into an established enterprise with golf courses, pools and retailers selling over 44,000 homes there alone.

He currently boasts an estimated net worth of 3 Million USD and was born October 11, 1953 – making him currently 69 years old.