wfn.org | Retired United Methodist Bishop Fitzgerald dies

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 27, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.     10-71BP{428}

NOTE: A photograph of Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald is available at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodist Bishop Ernest A. Fitzgerald, 76, died Sept. 27 at Baptist
Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., of pulmonary fibrosis. 

 From 1944 until his election as bishop by the church's Southeastern
North Carolina. He served as bishop of the Atlanta Area from 1984 until his
Jurisdictional Conference in 1984, he had served as pastor of churches in
retirement in 1992.  

He is survived by his wife, Sarah Frances Perry Fitzgerald, of the home; two
children, James Boyd Fitzgerald of Fletcher, N.C., and Patricia Ann Poole of
Winston-Salem; and three grandchildren. Services are pending.

The author of numerous books, Fitzgerald was a regular contributor to
magazines produced by Piedmont Airlines, the Jaycees and Amtrak. He was also
the guest preacher for the 1983 United Methodist series of "The Protestant
Hour" radio program.

Born in Crouse, N.C., he earned his bachelor of arts degree from Western
Carolina University in Cullowhee and his master of divinity degree from Duke
University Divinity School in Durham, N.C.  

He served on the boards of trustees at Duke and Emory University, Atlanta,
and was a member of the church's General Council on Ministries, the Task
Force on the Korean Church and the Older Adult Task Force. 

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