John McLauren McBryde (1841-1923) was the fifth president of Virginia Tech from 1891 thru 1907. He attended South Carolina College (later University of South Carolina) before the Unviersity of Virginia. In 1861, during the Civil War, he left the unviersity and joined the Confederate volunteer company. McBrdye later became a professor of Agriculture at the Unviersity of Tennesse, was the president of South Carolina College, and eventually became the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (later Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) president in 1891. He retired in Blacksburg in 1907.

John McLaren McBryde married Cora Bolton on November 18, 1863, and they had eight children: Janet McLaren; James Bolton; Anna Marie; John McLaren, Jr.; Charles Neil; Susan McLaren; Meade Bolton; and Waid. John Bolton McBryde is the grandfather of Polly Ashelman.