The Rev. Edward K. Perry, Former ELCA Synod Bishop, Dies

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Edward K. Perry, 73, president/bishop of the Upper New York Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA) from 1967 to 1987 and bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Upstate New York Synod from 1988 until his retirement in 1992, died July 27.
     A memorial service will be held at Parkside Lutheran Church in Buffalo, N.Y. on Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.
     Perry was born Dec. 2, 1926, in the Bronx, N.Y., and was a graduate of Tenafly High School in Tenafly, N.J.  He completed a bachelor's degree in 1946 at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., and earned a master of divinity degree in 1949 from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  Perry's doctoral work was in urban sociology and the sociology of religion at the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y., and Columbia University, New York City.
      Ordained in 1949, Perry served at Parkside Lutheran Church; Covenant Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Trinity Lutheran Church, Herkimer, N.Y.; and St. John Lutheran Church, Mamaroneck, N.Y.
     Perry was on the faculties of Hartwick and Gettysburg Colleges and was chair of the Board of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
     Perry was active in social ministry.  He was on the Board of Social Ministry of the New York Synod of the LCA for 13 years and was chair for three years.  He had also been a member of the Boards of the Lutheran Church Home, Buffalo N.Y. and the G.A. Children's home, Jamestown, N.Y.  Perry was chair of the Lutheran Charities Appeal in Metropolitan New York and president of the Board of Lutheran Social Services of Upstate New York as well.
     Perry was also a member of the management committee of the LCA's Office of Research and Planning, and he was president of the New York State Council of Churches.  In addition, he chaired the LCA's Committee on the Ordained Ministry of the Conference of Bishops and the LCA Bishops' Committee on Occasional Service Texts including the Ordinal, as well as the third round of the U.S. Lutheran Reformed theological dialogue.
     He is survived by his wife Carol, a son, Thomas, and two daughters, Susan and Melissa.

     [*Michael N. Hoffman is a senior at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.  This summer he is an intern with ELCA News and Information.]

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