Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 at 05:06:02 :
Independent Journal
Monday, February 18, 1980
Bishop Gerald Kennedy
Bishop Gerald H. Kennedy, Methodist leader who gained national fame for his preaching and opposition to right wing politics, died Sunday in an Orange County convalescent home.
Among his survivors is his brother, Herb Kennedy of Stinson Beach.
Kennedy, 72, was called “unquestionably among the four of five most dazzling preachers in the U. S.” when he was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1964.
He was the head of the United Methodist Church in Southern California from 1952 to 1972. He returned to full-time parish ministry after retiring as bishop but only was able to serve a year because of his health.
He had been a patient at the convalescent home for the past two and a half years.
In addition to his clerical duties, Kennedy also was appointed twice to the state Board of Education by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Sr. A Republican, Kennedy survived the challenge of some state Senate conservatives, the second time in 1965.
Kennedy was born in Benzonia, Mich., but his family soon moved to Fresno. His father was a lay preacher whose assignments moved the family around northern and central California.
He married the former Mary Leeper in 1928 while attending the College of the Pacific in Stockton. After graduation there, he earned degrees from the Pacific School of Religion and the Hartford Theological Seminary.
Surviving are his wife and brother.
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