ELCA News Blog
October 26, 2006
Raymond Olson, former president of California Lutheran University, Dies
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service
The Rev. Raymond M. Olson, 96, second president of California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, died Oct. 24. California Lutheran is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Olson served as president of the university from 1963 to 1971.
From 1952 to 1963 he was director of stewardship of the former
Evangelical Lutheran Church and The American Lutheran Church, one of three church bodies that merged to form the ELCA in 1987. Olson served as pastor of several congregations from 1939 to 1952. He taught religion and speech at Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa, from 1936 to 1938. Olson earned a liberal arts degree from Waldorf in 1932, and he earned a bachelor's degree in history from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1934. Waldorf and Augustana are colleges of the ELCA. Olson earned a master of divinity degree at Luther Theological Seminary (now Luther Seminary), St. Paul, Minn., in 1943. Luther Seminary is one of eight seminaries of the ELCA. Olson was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa.
A funeral service will be held Oct. 27 at Ascension Lutheran Church, Thousand Oaks. The community of California Lutheran University will honor Olson during a memorial service Nov. 17 at the Samuelson Chapel on campus. Olson is survived by Helen, his wife of 69 years, three children, many grandchildren and great- grandchildren.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog