Robert L. Edwards ’37

Bob Edwards of West Hartford, Conn., died Jan. 15, 2006. He was 91.

Born in Auburn, N.Y., he was a direct descendant of Thomas Hooker, Jonathan Edwards, and Hartford founder William Edwards. His mother, author and educator Margaret Dulles Edwards, was John Foster Dulles' sister.

Bob was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Princeton, earned a master's in history from Harvard in 1938, and received a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1949. During World War II he served five years as an Army intelligence officer, separating as a captain and earning a Bronze Star.

After graduation he was minister of the First Congregational Church of Litchfield, Conn., and of Immanuel Congregational Church, retiring as minister emeritus in 1980. He was president of the Greater Hartford Council of Churches, a trustee of Hartford Seminary, and on the boards of numerous organizations. He wrote several hymn texts and books, including Of Singular Genius, Of Singular Grace, a biography of Hartford pastor Horace Bushnell, and his own autobiography, My Moment in History.

Bob is survived by his wife, Sarah A. Edwards; a daughter, Edith H.; a son, James D.; a grandson, Lansing Charles Edwards; a brother, Richard; a sister, Mary Parke Edwards Manning; several nieces and nephews; and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews.

The class mourns the loss of our good and generous president and sends sincere sympathy to his family.

The Class of 1937