wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 363-Bishop Ernest W. Newman dead at age 80

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>Bishop Ernest W. Newman dead at age 80

Aug. 29, 2008    News media contact:   Marta  Aldrich * (615) 742-5133*   Nashville {363}

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org

>By United Methodist News Service

United Methodist Bishop Ernest W. Newman, the church's first African  American elected bishop in the southeastern United States, has died at  age 80.

Newman died Aug. 28 in Atlanta, where he lived.

He served as bishop over the church's Nashville (Tenn.) Area from 1984  until his retirement in 1992.

"Bishop Ernest W. Newman was our bishop-the first African-American  elected from Southeast Jurisdiction," said Pamela Crosby, executive  director of Black Methodists for Church Renewal.

"He was educated in the historically black colleges and upheld the  history and initiatives of the black church."

"He was a very dedicated worker and dedicated to the church. He was a  fair person," said the Rev. Louis Johnson, who served as a district  superintendent on Newman's cabinet in the late 1980s.

Crosby noted that Newman was a strong supporter of the black church and  the Black College Fund, and that his brother, Omega Newman, was one of  the founders of Black Methodists for Church Renewal.

"Our caucus lifts up the great work of this man who served with  distinction in the episcopacy and whose family remains at the heart of  Methodism," she said.

In 1984, Newman was elected to the episcopacy from the church's Florida  Annual (regional) Conference, where he was a district superintendent.  There, he also had been the conference's first black pastor of a large  all-white congregation.

Born in Kingstree, S.C., Newman received his bachelor of arts degree  from Claflin College in Orangeburg, S.C., and his master of divinity  from Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

He was ordained deacon in 1946 and, after transferring to the Florida  Conference in 1953, was ordained an elder in the Methodist Church.

Newman served Florida churches in Ocala, Jacksonville and Plantation. He  was superintendent of the Melbourne District from 1972 to 1977 and the  Deland District from 1983 until his episcopal election in 1984. Between  those appointments, he was pastor of the 2,000-member Plantation United  Methodist Church.

He was on the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race from 1976  to 1984 and served eight years as secretary of the Southeastern  Jurisdiction Court of Appeals. He served on the boards of trustees of  many United Methodist-related schools of higher education.

He leaves his wife, Thelma; two children, Kathy Newman McCoy and Ernest  Newman Jr.; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sept. 2 at Warren United  Methodist Church in Atlanta. Burial will follow at Westview Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in Newman's name to  Claflin University.

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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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