wfn.org | United Methodist Bishop Dwight E. Loder dies at 88

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 12, 2002    News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington     10-21-71BP{514}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this report. 

By United Methodist News Service

Bishop Dwight E. Loder, 88, died Nov. 9 at his home in Worthington, Ohio,
after a lengthy illness. He had been president of the denomination's Council
of Bishops from 1974 to 1975.

 From 1955 to 1964, Loder was the eighth president of Garrett Biblical
Methodist-related divinity school in Evanston, Ill. He was elected bishop in
Institute - now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary - a United
from 1976 until his retirement in 1984. After the sudden death of the
1964, serving the Michigan Area from 1964 to 1976 and the Ohio West Area
retirement to serve as interim president.
president of the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Loder interrupted his

Early in his ministry, Loder served churches in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania
and Minnesota. He was the pastor at Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in
Minneapolis when he was selected to head Garrett.

He was a General Conference and jurisdictional conference delegate in 1960
and 1964. He attended the World Methodist Convocation on Theological
Education in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1961 and the World Methodist Conference
in 1961, 1966, 1971 and 1976.  In 1957, he participated in the North
American Faith and Order Study Conference of the World Council of Churches.

While a bishop, he was president of the National Division of United
Methodist Board of Missions from 1968 to 1972. He also served the whole
church through membership on the United Methodist Commission on Chaplains
and Related Ministries, the Commission to Study Episcopacy and District
Superintendency, and the Commission to Study the Ministry in the 1970s. He
was president of the United Methodist General Council on Ministries from
1980 to 1983.

Loder was president of the North American Section of the World Methodist
Council from 1977 to 1980 and served on the presidium of the council for six
years afterward. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the Honorable
Order of Jerusalem of the World Methodist Council in 2000.

While bishop of the Michigan Area, Loder served on the governor's Crime
Commission and the governor's Ethical and Moral Panel during the 1960s. He
was chairman of the Committee on Equal Opportunity in Detroit from 1969 to
1972.

He also served as a trustee of several colleges and other institutions.

Loder received a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1936
and completed a degree in sacred theology at Boston University in 1939, the
year he was ordained. He studied law for a year at University of Nebraska
with scholastic honors and later received several honorary doctorates.

Loder was born July 8, 1914, in Waverly, Neb. He married Mildred E. Shay of
Stoneham, Mass., Sept. 17, 1939. She died Nov. 26, 1999. The couple's
survivors include their three children: Ruth Ann Burnecke of Dallas; William
Loder of Reston, Va.; and David Loder of Walnut Creek, Calif.; six
grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at Worthington United Methodist Church on Nov. 15.
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United Methodist News Service
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