obituary
Wallace B. Smith, great-grandson of Joseph Smith and pioneer for women’s ordination, dies at 94
By Jana Riess — September 26, 2023
(RNS) — The leadership of Wallace B. Smith, who headed the RLDS movement from 1978 to 1994, was a game changer.
Charles Stanley, TV preacher and Southern Baptist leader, dies at 90
By Adelle M. Banks — April 19, 2023
(RNS) — The author of dozens of books was recognized by people in the grassroots as well as in the highest echelons of American society.
Frank Griswold, who led Episcopal Church through tumultuous times, dies at 85
By Emily McFarlan Miller — March 6, 2023
(RNS) — Griswold led the mainline denomination through the ordination of its first openly gay bishop.
Benedict, the ‘other pope,’ dies at 95, leaving behind a unique and complex legacy
By Claire Giangravé — December 31, 2022
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in 600 years, paved the way into the new millennium, but struggled to reconcile his traditional Catholic views with a world that he considered to be ‘under the dictatorship of relativism.’
Remembering faith leaders who died in 2022: preachers, writers and interpreters of faith
By Adelle M. Banks — December 28, 2022
(RNS) — In this year we lost people who were known for their political office but for whom religion played roles expectedly and unexpectedly.
Calvin Butts, leader of Harlem’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, dies at 73
By Adelle M. Banks — October 28, 2022
(RNS) — Butts was known for his outspokenness on issues ranging from misogyny in rap music to the need to address HIV/AIDS.
Cecile Holmes, longtime religion reporter, dies at 67
By Yonat Shimron — September 30, 2022
(RNS) — A veteran religion reporter, editor, journalism professor and interfaith champion, she died in Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday (Sept. 29), after an illness.
Dan Busby, longest-serving president of evangelical financial watchdog, dies at 81
By Adelle M. Banks — September 29, 2022
(RNS) — Busby conducted hundreds of on-site compliance reviews of churches and other ministries aligned with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
Frederick Buechner, popular Christian ‘writer’s writer’ and ‘minister’s minister,’ dies at 96
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 15, 2022
(RNS) — Buechner died peacefully in his sleep on Monday (Aug. 15) at age 96, according to his family.
Tom Cornell, Catholic worker and Dorothy Day lieutenant, dies at 88
By Patrick O'Neill — August 3, 2022
(RNS) — An author and lecturer, Cornell spent his life promoting nonviolence, conscientious objection and the Catholic 'Works of Mercy' that represent the core values of the Catholic Worker Movement.
Bishop Mildred Hines, first AME Zion female bishop, dead at age 67
By Adelle M. Banks — May 24, 2022
(RNS) — ‘We will miss her powerful preaching, her electrifying teaching, her dynamic leadership, and her loving spirit,’ her fellow bishops said of the first and only female bishop in the denomination.
Nightbirde, who shared music, message of hope on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ dies at 31
By Emily McFarlan Miller — February 21, 2022
(RNS) — The singer, a Liberty University graduate who moved many viewers with her faith in the face of a terminal cancer diagnosis, withdrew from 'America’s Got Talent' as her health declined.
Thích Nhất Hạnh, Zen master who preached compassion and nonviolence, dies
By Ira Rifkin — January 21, 2022
(RNS) — The Vietnamese Buddhist monk, described as 'the second most famous Buddhist in the world, after the Dalai Lama,' by one expert, founded a worldwide network of monastic centers.
Observers, detractors and preachers of religion who died in 2021
By Adelle M. Banks — December 30, 2021
(RNS) — Prominent figures in the world of religion who died in 2021.
Desmond Tutu, archbishop, activist and apartheid foe, is dead at 90
By Adelle M. Banks and B. Denise Hawkins — December 26, 2021
(RNS) — Tutu said a disciplined prayer life helped him through apartheid and continued to sustain him decades later.
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