Robert Kelley, retired holder of the G. Albert Shoemaker Chair in Bible and Archaeology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS), died peacefully Oct. 30, 2013. He was 85.
Kelley graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1948 and from PTS in 1951. He earned a master’s degree in 1959 from the Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University in 1972.
In 1951, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister. From 1951 to 1955 he served as minister of education at a local church while teaching homiletics, Hebrew, and Greek part- time at Pittsburgh Xenia Seminary.
From 1955 to 1997, Kelley was a faculty member at PTS, primarily teaching New Testament studies. He was named to the Shoemaker Chair in 1990. In retirement, he assisted the PTS admissions office and taught in its summer youth-institute program, as well as continuing to teach and preach in many Pittsburgh-area churches.
In 2000, he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Tarkio College in Missouri.
Kelley was predeceased by Ruth, his wife of 61 years. He is survived by two children and one grandson.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.