wfn.org | Retired Bishop Robert Blackburn dies at 82

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 18, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71BP{110}

NOTE: A photograph of Bishop Robert M. Blackburn is available at
http://umns.umc.org/photogallery.html online.

By United Methodist News Service

Retired United Methodist Bishop Robert M. Blackburn, who led the church's
Raleigh, N.C., and Richmond, Va., areas, has died following complications
from open-heart surgery. He was 82.

Blackburn died March 17, according to the Council of Bishops' office. He had
undergone surgery March 7 at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., and
was there when he died.

Bishop Joseph Yeakel of Smithsburg, Md., remembers Blackburn as one of the
"unsung heroes of the church," a leader who was committed to serving his
local episcopal area. Both men became bishops in 1972 and forged a bond
through that experience. Yeakel will represent the Council of Bishops at the
funeral March 19.

"I've always appreciated Bob's integrity," Yeakel said. "... He was strong
and a good leader and a friend. He really made his major contributions in
the (episcopal) area, and that's really what we're called to do."

The son and grandson of Methodist ministers, Blackburn served at local
churches in Florida for 29 years before being elected bishop in 1972. 

He led the denomination's Raleigh Area from 1972 to 1980, then went on to
the Richmond Area, where he served until retirement in 1988. During his last
year in Richmond, the Virginia Annual (regional) Conference raised $19.4
million in a campaign for new church development, setting a record as the
largest amount ever raised by a conference in a one-year drive.

Blackburn served on the boards of several general church agencies: the
General Council on Finance and Administration, the Board of Higher Education
and Ministry, the Board of Church and Society and the Commission on the
Status and Role of Women. He also served as a trustee for more than a
half-dozen United Methodist schools. 

Robert McGrady Blackburn was born Sept. 12, 1919, in Bartow, Fla., the son
of the Rev. C. Fred and Effie Frances Forsythe Blackburn.

After graduating from high school in Orlando, he earned his bachelor of arts
degree from Florida Southern College in Lakeland in 1941, followed by his
master of divinity degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory
University in Atlanta in 1943. He later received honorary degrees from
LaGrange (Ga.) College, Florida Southern, North Carolina Wesleyan College in
Rocky Mount, and Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music in Winchester,
Va. Florida Southern also presented him with the school's Distinguished
Alumnus Award in 1973.

Ordained a deacon in 1943 and an elder in 1944, Blackburn went on to lead
Florida congregations for nearly three decades, a tenure broken only by his
stint as a U.S. Army chaplain from 1944 to 1946. He was active at the annual
conference level and was regarded as an expert on financial issues. At the
time of his election as bishop in 1972, he was leading First United
Methodist Church of Orlando.

Blackburn served as a reserve delegate to General Conference in 1964 and a
delegate in 1968, 1970 and 1972, as well as a delegate to the jurisdictional
conference from 1964 to 1972. He was the United Methodist representative to
the British Methodist Conference in Sheffield, England, in 1980, and the
Council of Bishops' representative to the European United Methodist
Conference in Austria in 1984.

Blackburn married Mary Jeanne Everett in 1943, and the couple had three
children: Jeanne Marie, Frances and Robert Jr. Like his father, Robert
entered the ministry, becoming the fourth generation of the family to do so.
The bishop's wife died in 1977 after a long illness.

On Sept. 9, 1978, Blackburn married Jewell Haddock of Jacksonville, whom he
had known years earlier. After the bishop's retirement, they moved to
Jacksonville.

The funeral service will be at 4 p.m. March 19 at First United Methodist
Church in Jacksonville. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the
church at 225 E. Duval St., Jacksonville, Fla. 32202.
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United Methodist News Service
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