wfn.org | Former St. Olaf College President, U.S. Ambassador Sidney Rand Dies

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 19, 2003

Former St. Olaf College President, U.S. Ambassador Sidney Rand Dies
03-232-AG*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Sidney A. Rand, former president of St.
Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., U.S. ambassador to Norway, and retired
pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Dec. 16
at a Northfield hospital.
     Rand, 87, served at president of St. Olaf College from 1963 to 1980,
and was U.S. ambassador to Norway in 1980 and 1981.  St. Olaf is one of 28
ELCA colleges and universities.
     Rand and his wife, Lois, lived in Northfield.
     "Sidney Rand was one of Minnesota's truly remarkable men. He was a
great president of St. Olaf College, a highly respected educator
throughout the state and the nation, and a wonderful human being," said
Walter F. Mondale, former vice president of the United States, who worked
with Rand for many years on the Nobel Peace Prize Forum conference, which
Rand helped establish.
     The Rev. Christopher M. Thomforde, president of St. Olaf College,
recalled Rand as "a great churchman, a great citizen and a great Christian
gentleman." Rand served as a mentor and adviser to Thomforde during the
current president's early days on the job in 2001.
     "He was very helpful in the craft of being a college president,"
Thomforde said. "All of us -- the college, the Lutheran church and even
the United States -- have lost a great, great man and a great leader."
     During Rand's more than 16 years as president of St. Olaf, the
college's enrollment increased from 2,094 to just over 3,000. Six major
buildings were constructed, and two highly successful fund-raising
campaigns, which together raised about $25 million, were carried out under
his direction. An additional campaign was well on its way to bringing in
more than $21.5 million when he left for the embassy in Norway.
     Rand was called out of retirement three times to serve as interim
president at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., from 1986 to 1987 and
1992 to 1993, and Suomi College (now Finlandia University), Hancock,
Mich., from 1990 to 1991. He taught homiletics at Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn., from 1984 to 1985.  Augustana College and Finlandia
University are ELCA colleges; Luther Seminary is one of eight ELCA
seminaries.
     Rand was born in 1916 in Eldred, Minn.  In 1938 Rand earned a
bachelor's degree at Concordia College.  He earned a bachelor of theology
degree in 1943 from Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul.  In 1956 Luther
Seminary awarded him a doctor of divinity degree.  He also did graduate
work at the University of Chicago.
     Rand was ordained in 1943 and served as pastor of Nashwauk and Trout
Lake Lutheran churches in northern Minnesota for two years. He joined the
faculty of Concordia College, an ELCA college in Moorhead, Minn., as
assistant and later associate professor of religion from 1945 to 1951.
     Prior to serving St. Olaf College, Rand was president of Waldorf
College, an ELCA college in Forest City, Iowa, from 1951 to 1956;
executive director of the Board of Christian Education of the former
Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1956 to 1961; and executive director of
the Board of Higher Education of the American Lutheran Church from 1961 to
1963.
     Praised as a friend to higher education in general, Rand served as
acting executive director of the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC),
St. Paul, in 1983. The following year the MPCC bestowed on him the Edgar
Carlson Award for distinguished higher education service.
     The King Olav V Chair in Scandinavian-American Studies was founded at
St. Olaf during Rand's presidency. Established through a substantial gift
from the people of Norway and other friends of the college, the endowment
was created to ensure the continued study of Scandinavian and
Scandinavian-American history at St. Olaf. The current holder of the
chair -- the Rev. Todd Nichol, professor of church history, Luther
Seminary -- also serves as editor for the Norwegian American Historical
Association.
     Rand received numerous recognitions of his work, including honorary
doctoral degrees from Concordia College; Colorado College, Colorado
Springs; St. Olaf College; St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn.;
Carleton College, Northfield; College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minn.;
Augustana College; and Luther College, an ELCA college in Decorah, Iowa.
     His Majesty King Olav V of Norway decorated Rand with the Knight
First Class, Order of St. Olav and the Commander's Cross, Royal Norwegian
Order of Merit. His Majesty King Harald V, the current king of Norway,
bestowed on Rand the Commander's Cross with Star of the Royal Norwegian
Order of Merit. Rand also received the Brotherhood-Sisterhood Award of the
National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Luther Institute's
Wittenberg Award.  The institute is in Washington, D.C.
     After much encouragement from Lois Rand and the St. Olaf community,
Rand published his autobiography, "In Pleasant Places," in 1996. His first
book, a coffeetable volume titled Norway, was published in collaboration
with his wife and photographers Robert and Loren Paulson.
     In 1942, Rand was married to Dorothy Holm, a college classmate. Two
children, Peter and Mary Rand, were born to them. Dorothy died in 1974,
and later that year he married Lois Ekeren.
     Rand is survived by his wife, Lois; by son, Peter, daughter Mary
Taylor, stepdaughter Sarah Buck; and stepson Mark Ekeren; by nine
grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and by a brother, Lyman Rand.
     A funeral service is planned at Boe Memorial Chapel, St. Olaf
College, Dec. 23, at 1:30 p.m.
---
*Amy Gage is director of communications for St. Olaf College.

Information about St. Olaf College is available at http://www.stolaf.edu
on the Web.

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