Bishop of ELCA Upstate New York Synod to Retire in 2002

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Lee M. Miller, bishop of the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will retire as bishop effective Aug. 31, 2002, the end of his present six-year term.
Miller, 62, made the announcement to congregations of the synod in a letter and reported his decision to the Upstate New York Synod Council during the fall. A new bishop will be elected at the synod's assembly in June 2002 in Oswego, N.Y.
In his letter, Miller said, "It has been a real privilege ... to have been bishop for Upstate New York since 1992." That year, Miller was elected to serve a four-year term as bishop. He was re-elected in 1996.
Miller graduated from Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., in 1960. He received a master's of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1972, and earned a doctorate from Columbia University, New York.
Prior to being elected bishop, Miller served as an assistant to the bishop and mission director for the ELCA Upstate New York Synod. He also served as dean of education at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, and assistant pastor at First Lutheran Church, Jamestown, N.Y., and First English Lutheran Church, Lockport, N.Y.
Miller and his wife, Joan, are parents of two grown children.
The Upstate New York Synod is one of 65 synods in the ELCA and includes 197 congregations with some 85,502 baptized members. The synod's main office is in Syracuse, N.Y.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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