October 23, 2009
John Burt '40, eighth Bishop of Ohio
John Harris Burt ‘40, the retired Bishop of Ohio, died October 20 at the age of 91.
Episcopal Life Online has a detailed obituary that tells the story of his life, from his early days in Michigan to Amherst and beyond, including his work in the Navy during World War II and with civil rights rallies in Southern California in the early 1960s.
Burt was born in Marquette, Michigan, the older son of the Rev. Bates Burt, first rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette, Michigan and then rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pontiac, Michigan. He attended Amherst College where he was the managing editor of the college newspaper, president of his fraternity and vice president of his senior class. He graduated cum laude in 1940. After a post-graduate year in New York City where he studied at Columbia University and worked as a social worker at Christadora House on the Lower East Side, Burt entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, graduating cum laude in 1943. Following ordination, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to serve on the staff of Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis and as director of St. Paul’s Parrish. It was in that year that he met his future wife, Martha May Miller.
Burt served as a chaplain in the United States Navy during World War II in the Pacific theater. After the war, he became the Episcopal chaplain of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, followed by a seven-year tenure at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown, Ohio, where he received the Arvona Lynch Human Relations Award and became the founding president of the ACLU, playing a leadership role in the racial integration of community housing and swimming pools.
Brian Meacham '97 | October 23, 2009 12:28 AM | Alumni
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.amerst.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/368
© 2005 Am'erst.com |  | • Powered by Movable Type 3.2• |  |