Wendell S. Dietrich ’51

Wen was born June 17, 1930, in Syracuse, N.Y., to Sanford and Mary Willett Dietrich.

He prepared for Princeton at the Lawrenceville School. At Princeton he was a religion major and was a member of Prospect Club, the Westminster Fellowship, and the Presbyterian Student Council. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Wen was awarded the Francis Biddle Essay Prize and was a Lyman Biddle Scholar. In 1954 he earned a degree from Yale Divinity School and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church. He then spent a Fulbright fellowship year at St. Andrew’s in Scotland.

Wen earned a Ph.D. in religious studies thereafter at Yale. He became a professor of religious and Judaic studies at Brown University, where he remained from 1958 to his retirement in 2000, during which time he served as chairman of the Department of Religious Studies.

Wen died April 13, 2017, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Betsy; children Sarah and John; and grandchildren Lia and Timothy Dietrich. His father-in-law, Frederick W. Brown ’28, predeceased him. Donations in his memory may be made to Brown University, Annual Scholarship Aid Fund, Box 1877, Providence RI 02912.