(RNS) — Bishop George Edward Battle Jr., an advocate for education and health and the former senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, died on Sunday (March 9) in Charlotte, North Carolina, after an undisclosed illness. He was 77.
“Having served as an active bishop for 29 years, Bishop George Edward Battle Jr. will take his place in history as one of our longest-serving active bishops,” the AME Zion Church’s board of bishops said in a statement. “He was not only an evangelist, pastor, bishop and Christian servant, he was a great philanthropist, a community leader, a champion for education and a social justice advocate.”
Battle retired in 2021. In one of his last acts as AME Zion Church’s senior bishop, he oversaw a mortgage-burning ceremony to celebrate the historically Black denomination paying off its debts. The denomination dates back to 1796 and is headquartered in Charlotte.
The church had refinanced a $3.9 million loan to be paid off in quarterly payments from 2015 through 2022, but its chief financial officer announced at a 2021 hybrid meeting in Atlanta it completed the payments early.
Battle said during that quadrennial denominational meeting: “We loved our church and we wanted to make sure that when we came to General Conference, we would have enough money saved by making these transactions, so when we came here the bills would be paid.”
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Battle, a native of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, served churches in North and South Carolina starting in the 1960s. After he was elected bishop in 1992, he oversaw churches in the Carolinas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northeast.
He was especially remembered for his work as a mentor to students and clergy.
The Rev. Monte Witherspoon-Brown, an at-large member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, cited Battle’s 17 years on the school board, including four as board chair, at its meeting on Tuesday.
“His years of service were both critical and transformative for our district,” Witherspoon-Brown said in his tribute. “As a faith leader and advocate for education, Bishop Battle founded the Greater Enrichment Program in 1975, which has provided quality after-school enrichment for thousands of students and continues to operate in multiple locations.”
Witherspoon-Brown said Battle was his longtime mentor and helped prevent him from dropping out of school as a ninth grader, ensured he received financial support to attend Livingstone College, an AME-Zion affiliated school in Salisbury, North Carolina, and appointed him to three of the four churches where he served as pastor. Battle also counseled Witherspoon when he decided to run for the school board position.
“‘You have to make sure that all children get a good education,’” Witherspoon-Brown recalled Battle telling him. “And he paused for a moment and then emphasized ‘all children.’”
Battle received dozens of awards, including The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, which is considered the highest honor in the state of North Carolina and is presented by the governor.
Bishop George Edward Battle Jr. (Courtesy photo)
A building and a scholarship fund also have been named in his honor. The George E. Battle Jr. School of Business, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology is named for him at Livingstone College. Battle was a former chairman of the college’s board of directors and an alumnus.
Additionally, Atrium Health Foundation, a charity connected to the Atrium Health system in Charlotte, created the Bishop George E. Battle Jr. Scholarship Fund, which is “dedicated to ensuring educational opportunities and careers in health care that are accessible for all.” Battle was an emeritus member of the foundation and the Atrium Health Board of Commissioners.
The Rev. George McKain Jr., a consultant and former public affairs director for the denomination, credited Battle’s connections with the health care system for saving his life.
“I was on life support,” McKain said, recalling a 2016 health crisis that began with an asthma attack. “They wanted to cut the machine off on the third day.”
Battle, citing his faith in McKain’s recovery, urged doctors not to take that step, and McKain said more than eight years later, “I’m wonderful, alive and well.”
“(Battle) just stepped in, as he’s done for so many other people, and just fought for you to be taken care of,” McKain said.
Honored with his likeness being placed in The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore in 2014, Battle marveled at the trajectory of his life.
“The only thing I wanted to do when I was young was to graduate from high school, but God had another plan for my life,” Battle said, The Salisbury Post reported at the time. “I once earned 30 cents an hour picking cotton, and now I lead the greatest church this side of heaven. That’s what God had in store for me.”
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