The Rev. Dr. David Ramage, Jr.

We note with sadness the passing on February 14, and honor the legacy, of the Rev. Dr. David Ramage, Jr. — pastor, community activist, church leader, fervent believer in interreligious dialogue, peacemaker and, above all, friend of the Parliament of the World Religions.

It was David’s vision, organizational skills and international stature that proved pivotal in making the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions a reality, a success and milestone in advancing the cause of interreligious engagement. As Board Chair of the Council, David’s leadership united and inspired religious and civic leaders across the full spectrum of faith communities to see the necessity of reconvening the Parliament, in Chicago, the city of its birth, one hundred years after its founding in 1893.

But David’s work on behalf of the Parliament was just one facet of his remarkable career and deeply-held beliefs about dialogue, communication and mutual understanding. As president of McCormick Seminary from 1985 to 1993, he was instrumental in helping McCormick adopt a more outward-looking perspective, establishing a community-based urban ministry, ecumenical partnerships and the diversification of its student body — all in service towards a new conception of cross-cultural theological education. As David said upon his assuming the presidency of McCormick, “we have enormous diversity in this seminary, for it represents the world in which it lives.” A few years later, in a sermon broadcast on Chicago’s long-running Sunday Evening Club, David took his own sense of ecumenism even further:

“Our community and our world are threatened by increasing division, fear, alienation and hostility. We share this world and this community with others. Dialogue with others, joint planning and working together at common tasks can truly help. We must learn to understand and communicate, in ways that may feel strange to us, if we are to find light and life beyond our present knowledge and hope beyond our present understanding.”

Dave was born March 7, 1930 to Margaret White Ramage and David Ramage, Jr. in Cincinnati and graduated from Norwood High School in 1948 and Hanover College in 1951, going on to earn a divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in 1955. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from both Hanover College and Johnson C. Smith University. Dave was ordained by the Presbytery of Chicago in 1957. He then served in Chicago as director of a youth gang action/research project, as a social worker in settlement houses and as pastor of the Emerald Avenue Presbyterian Church. During this time he teamed up with community organizer Saul Alinsky and served on the Board of Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation. In 1963 David became an executive officer of the Board of National Missions of Churches in New York. He was Executive Director of its Department of Mission Strategy and Evangelism and Chairman of the Division of Church Strategy and Development. During this time, he also served as an adjunct staff member for the World Council of Church’s Division of World Mission and Evangelism and the Committee to Combat Racism and the organization staff of the Joint Committee on Society, Development, and Peace of the Council and the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace of the Vatican. In 1970 he joined the staff of the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C. as vice president for Field Services and in 1971 became its president. The Center is a national community development assistance and social policy research agency. From 1975 to 1985, Dave held executive positions at the New World Foundation in New York City as vice president, executive director, and president. The Foundation gives priority to encouraging effective education and promoting citizen responsibility and involvement in public issues such as peacemaking, community organization and development, and racial and ethnic opportunity. In 1985 David became the eighth president of McCormick Theological Seminary. In the summer of 1993 David chaired the Meeting of the Council of a Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago. In 1994 David retired from his post as president at McCormick Theological Seminary and became a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Dave and his wife Betty retired to Marco Island, Florida and Reston, Virginia. In 2001 David received the Alumni Achievement Award from Hanover College.

David is survived by his wife, Betty, their four children and their spouses, David and Corinne, Jonathan and Debbie, Elizabeth and Adam, and Daniel and Lynne, ten grandchildren, one great grandchild, his sister, June, his brother, Dan, and a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, relatives and loving friends.