wfn.org | Lutheran Pastor, Mentor, Educator Richard Wallace is Mourned

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 6, 2005

Lutheran Pastor, Mentor, Educator Richard Wallace is Mourned
05-186-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.,
celebrated the life of the Rev. Richard M. Wallace Jr. with a
memorial service Sept. 29.  Wallace, a pastor of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and associate professor of
pastoral care and counseling at the seminary, died Aug. 30 of an
apparent heart attack at his home in St. Paul.	He was 53.
     "Please remember his wife Beverly and the family in your
prayers," said the Rev. Richard H. Bliese, president, Luther
Seminary.  "Include our whole seminary community in your
petitions as we grieve the death of a beloved and cherished
colleague, friend, teacher and mentor.	Richard had a gentle but
direct way to touch people's hearts and lives.	We will miss
him," he said.
     Before joining the Luther Seminary faculty in 1999, Wallace
served the Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta, five years as
assistant director and three years as director.  The center is a
program of the ELCA's eight seminaries and focuses on the
theological training of African Americans in cooperation with the
Interdenominational Theological Center, a consortium of African
American seminaries in Atlanta.
     Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, and Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., appointed Wallace
as assistant professor of pastoral care at the Lutheran
Theological Center in Atlanta.	He also served as associate
director for field education at the Interdenominational
Theological Center.
     Born April 10, 1952, in Alameda, Calif., Wallace graduated
from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., and Pacific Lutheran
Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., and earned a
doctorate from Luther Seminary.
     Wallace was ordained in 1979 and served as pastor of Christ
the Shepherd Lutheran Church, Altadena, Calif., and St. Philip
Lutheran Church, Oakland, Calif., and as an adjunct faculty
member at PLTS.  He also served several congregations in Georgia
and Minnesota as interim pastor during his teaching career.
     Wallace was a member of the Association for Theological
Field Education, the Society for Pastoral Theology and the ELCA-
affiliated Conference of International Black Lutherans.  He
edited the Journal of Ministry in Addiction and Recovery.  Among
his publications was a recent article, "The Development of a
Theodicy that Responds to the Suffering of African American
Males."
     Wallace is survived by his wife the Rev. Beverly R. Wallace,
also an ELCA pastor, a son and three daughters, two
grandchildren, a sister and two brothers.  He was preceded in
death by his parents and one sister.
-- -- --
     A tribute to Pastor Richard Wallace is at
http://www.luthersem.edu/memorial/richard_wallace.asp
on Luther Seminary's Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news