$1 MILLION IN GIFTS AND PLEDGES
FROM MARY ELLEN KILSBY COMPLETES
ENDOWED CHAIR HONORING
JOHN B. COBB, JR.
Claremont School of Theology announced this week the establishment of an endowed chair in honor of John B. Cobb, Jr., thanks to a generous pledge from Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby of Long Beach, Calif. The chair will be named the “Kilsby Family and John B. Cobb, Jr., Chair in Process Theology.”
“John Cobb is not only a preeminent intellectual but also a remarkable inspiration to all his students and colleagues,” says Jerry D. Campbell, president of the School. “We are proud of Claremont graduate Mary Ellen and we are grateful to her family for honoring this important figure and ensuring his legacy will endure at Claremont.”
The campaign for the chair, which began in 2006, raised $865,000 in gifts and pledges toward the initial $1.5 million goal. The Kilsby Family’s pledge of an additional $800,000 over eight years completes the campaign, though efforts will continue to raise the endowment.
From the outset, Rev. Kilsby and her late husband, Bud, took major responsibility for the fund-raising effort, making leadership gifts which, when added to their pledge, brings their commitments to the chair close to $1 million.
“When Bud died, I knew this was an effort he would have loved to see completed,” Kilsby said. “John Cobb was not only one my most significant professors, but also one of our best friends. Process Theology built an intellectual foundation under what I love to call my ‘slo ppy agape’, heartfelt Christianity. And I am betting on the widespread influence that Process Theology will have on many faiths and cultures around the world.”
John B. Cobb, Jr., spent most of his academic career at Claremont and retired as the Ingraham Professor of Theology. A leading American theologian, he is credited with developing and popularizing process theology, which grows out of the work of Alfred North Whitehead. Cobb co-founded the Center for Process Studies at Claremont, which has nearly 25 related centers world-wide.
“In 1958, when the Cobb family went to the new Claremont United Methodist Church the first Sunday after we arrived in Claremont, we were greeted by the Kilsby family,” Cobb said. “Since then our friendship and our partnership in concerns for the church and the world have grown and deepened. It is a great joy to me that Mary Ellen’s wonderful gift has insured that our names will be intertwined in the name of the new chair.”
“Process thought has become a global movement loosely organized as the International Process Network,” Cobb adds. “Its greatest current influence is in East Asia, but new centers in Eastern Europe and Africa show great promise, and interest in Western Europe is becoming well-established. Around the world, Claremont is recognized as the global center. The generosity of Mary Ellen Kilsby ensures that it can continue to play this role in the foreseeable future.”
Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby is an alumna of the School (Rel.M. ’71; M.Div. and D.Min. ’78) and a graduate of Pomona College (cum laude). She served as Associate Minister of the Claremont United Church of Christ from 1975 to 1983; Pastor of Altadena UCC from 1983 to 1987; and Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach from 1988 until her retirement as Minister Emeritus in 1999.
An active community leader, Rev. Kilsby served in various capacities with the Claremont School Board, Girl Scouts, Soroptimists, League of Women Voters, the AAUW, AIDS Walk Long Beach, Public Corporation for the Arts, Progressive Christians Uniting, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
For more information on financially supporting the new chair, please contact the Development Office at (909) 447-2525.
Established in 1885, Claremont School of Theology is an ecumenical and inter-religious institution of The United Methodist Church, situated in Southern California among the prestigious Claremont Colleges.
