SOUTH BROOKSVILLE, MAINE – Rev. Dr. Malcolm R. Sutherland Jr., passed away peacefully at his home in South Brooksville, on Nov. 19, 2003. Malcolm was minister of the Harvard Unitarian Church for 19 years (1975-1994) and was elected Minister Emeritus on his retirement. Prior to coming to Harvard, he served as President, Dean of the Faculty, and Robert Collier Professor of Church and Society at Meadville Theological School of Lombard College, affiliated with the University of Chicago from 1960-1975 as Executive Vice President of the American Unitarian Association (now the Unitarian Universalist Association) from 1958-1960, as Minister of the First Parish in Milton (Mass.) from 1954-1960, as first settled Minister of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church in Charlottesville, Va., from 1945-1954, and as Minister of the Universalist Church of Hoopston, Ill, from 1943-1945. Before entering the ministry he served as director of Men and Boys Work at the Goodrich Social Settlement House in Cleveland and Benton House Social Settlement in Chicago, as Community Manager for the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, as Regional Housing Supervisor to the Farm Security Administration and as Housing Management Supervisor for the Federal Public Housing Authority. While in Boston he served the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Inc., for 25 years, working in Home Service Department Work Camps in Maine and New Hampshire (1946-1948), Field Representative in Mexico (summers of 1950-1951) constructing a tuberculosis hospital, irrigation system, well-baby clinic, etc., in Ejido El Porvenir, Mexico, and two summers (1952 – 1953) as director of Gallup Indian Center in New Mexico, as Chairman of Home Service Committee of the Board, as chair of Program Committee succeeding Dr. Arthur Altmeyer, on the Board of Directors of UUSC, Inc., until 1971, on the Board of Directors of Beacon Press, Inc., and as Chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the Christian Register (now The World). While in Chicago, he was a founder and first chair of the Common Council of the Chicago Cluster of Theological Schools (now the Association of Chicago Theological Schools) and was elected a governor of Manchester College, Oxford University, in 1968, and an Honorary Fellow in 1973. Founder, with Dr. Ralph W. Burhoe, of the Center of Advanced Study of Theology and Science in 1964, he served on the board of directors of its successor, CASIRAS, and as co-chair of the Publication Board of Zygon, quarterly journal on Science and Religion. He was twice President of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science and subsequently elected Honorary Vice President and Academic Fellow. While in Harvard he served on the community committee on drug and alcohol abuse, on the board of directors of CODE hotline; on the ad hoc committee to bring Vietnamese refugees to Harvard. He was twice Harvard Chair lecturer of the Warner Free Lectures and sang in Harvard Pro Musica for 12 years. He was a founding trustee and vice president of the Dana McLean Greeley Foundation for Justice and Peace. A member of the International Association for Religious Freedom since 1968 he received a distinguished service award from IARF USA in 1974. An officer of the World Conference on Religion and Peace since its inception in Kyoto, Japan, in 1970, he was elected an Honorary International President in 1994. He served as consultant and member of the Screening Committee of Nlwano Peace Foundation in Tokyo for 15 years (1982-1997), and received a distinguished service award from the Konkokyo Churches (Japanese) of America in 1975. He received his Baccalaureate degree from Miami University in 1938, a masters degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University in 1941, and his Divinity degree from the University of Chicago in 1945. Meadville Theological School voted to confer the Doctor of Divinity degree in 1961, Emerson College (Boston), the Doctor of Laws degree in 1963, and Lombard College, the Doctor of Humane Letters in 1975. Malcolm is survived by his wife of 60 years, Mary Anne (Beaumont); his son, Malcolm III; his daughter, Maryanne B.; daughter-in-law, Linda; and three grandchildren, Nicole, Drew, and Ian. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hospice of Hancock County, 14 McKenzie Ave., Ellsworth, ME 04605. Arrangements are by Healey Funeral Home, South Street, Blue Hill.
REV. DR. MALCOLM SUTHERLAND JR.
