Rev. David Stuart Dodge (1836–1921) was a friend and supporter of the Reverend Dr. Daniel Bliss, the founder of the Syrian Protestant College, Beirut. Dodge became the professor for English and modern languages at the institute, a position he held for nine years. He was later appointed the America-based chairman of trustees for the college.

William Earl Dodge Sr. was an American businessman, politician, and activist. He was referred to as one of the "Merchant Princes" of Wall Street in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Dodge saw slavery as an evil to be peaceably removed, but not to be interfered with where it existed. He was a Native American rights activist and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. Dodge represented New York's 8th congressional district in the United States Congress for a portion of the 39th United States Congress in 1866–1867 and was a founding member of the YMCA of the US.