Mansfield Freeman was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on September 16, 1895, the son of Luther Freeman, a Methodist minister. He was one of the original management group that started an insurance business in China that became the American International Group (AIG). He also was a prominent scholar of Chinese philosophy and a generous philanthropist. He died on November 17, 1992, at his farm in Greensboro, Vermont at the age of 97.

Freeman was also the founder of the Freeman Foundation.^[1] He was an alumnus of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, year of 1916. The Freeman Asian Scholarship was established at Wesleyan in his honor.^[2][3] In addition, his endowment established the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies at the university.^[4][5]

Freeman's published works include an introduction to and translation of Preservation of Learning by Yen Yuan, a 17th-century Chinese philosopher. In 1990, he co-authored Tai Chen and Mencius: Explorations in Words and Meaning with Annping Chin, who is now a professor at Yale.

• Short biographical sketch on Yale University Website
• Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University
• Obituary of Mansfield Freeman on New York Times