Russell Earle Richey

Reverend Dr. Russell Earle Richey

Russell Earle Richey, Dean Emeritus of Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus, died at home in Durham NC on January 19, 2025, age 83, after an extended illness.

Russell was predeceased by his parents, Erika Marx Richey and McMurry S. Richey, who bestowed on Russell their family history of service to the church. Erika was the daughter of Moravian missionaries to Tibet and Mac was first an ordained Methodist minister and later served on the faculty of Duke Divinity School.

Russell is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Merle Bradley Umstead Richey, Durham High School friends in the Methodist Youth Fellowship at Trinity Church in Durham; his brothers Tom Richey (Linda) of Atlanta and Doug Richey of Durham; his children William Richey (Jennifer) and Elizabeth Thompson (Bennett); four grandchildren: Benjamin and Ruby Richey, and Reeves and Lane Thompson; two nephews, Russell B. Richey and Jon Richey. He was supportive and loving as a husband and in raising a couple of more or less reasonable children.

Russell’s professional education began at Wesleyan University in Connecticut where he earned his B.A. with High Honors and Distinction in History in 1963. He lettered in basketball and lacrosse, and was selected to participate in Operation Crossroads Africa sending him to Ghana. He earned his B.D. [M Div] degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1966, where he participated in the International Fellows Program, did field work in East Harlem Protestant Parish, and participated in the Student Interracial Ministry serving as national co-director 1964-5. He earned his Ph.D. degree in 1970 from Princeton University where he was University Teaching Fellow 1968-69 and had a fellowship for dissertation research in London; his dissertation was received with distinction.

At that time Russell chose an academic career rather than the pastoral ministry. He joined the faculty of both The Theological and The Graduate Schools at Drew University in Madison, NJ. During his 17 years at Drew, he spent several years as Assistant to the President (Paul Hardin, later Chancellor of UNC-CH), serving as the university’s Affirmative Action Officer among other duties. He then was 14 years at Duke Divinity School as Associate Dean for Academic Programs, as Research Professor, and then Professor of Church History. From 2000 until 2006 he served as Dean and later as Professor of Church History at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta retiring from Candler in 2011, William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus. Returning to Durham he offered a seminar or directed study in American Methodism at Duke Divinity School as visiting faculty and fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition continuing until his health declined.

Russell had many wide-ranging church relationships: Commission on Christian Unity of the NC Council of Churches; General Commission on Archives and History (UMC); member National and North Carolina Episcopal-United Methodist Dialog; Wesley Works Editorial Project; Board of Ordained Ministry, North Georgia. He also had professional responsibilities as peer reviewer for journals and publishers; with Commission on Accrediting, Association of Theological Schools; and as President of Atlanta Theological Association. Over the years, he served on 58 Doctoral Dissertation committees.

As a board member of Quarterly Review, a long-time Methodist journal financially hard-pressed to continue in print, Russell together with colleagues Ted Campbell and Rex Matthews established a free online version, now Methodist Review, setting up a peer review board and financing plan. Russell served on other Editorial Advisory Boards: Church History, Journal of Southern Religion, Wesleyan Studies.

Russell was also involved in community activities. He represented Drew University as Chair of the Downtown Development Commission of Madison NJ; Vice President of the New Jersey Association for Affirmative Action in Higher Education and member of the Legislative Relations Committee of Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in New Jersey. Subsequently, while living in Atlanta, he served as Board of Directors Secretary for Faith and the City.

A prolific scholar and author, Russell wrote, co-authored, and edited dozens of books and scores of journal articles focused primarily on denominationalism, civil religion, and American Methodism. Speaking at his retirement, colleague Carol Newsom said, “It’s not about numbers. It’s about Russ’s defining work in the field of Methodist history.”

Wherever he was living he associated with the local Methodist church and participated from time to time as guest preacher and Sunday School teacher. In his 2021 book, A Church’s Broken Heart, he includes a “personal postscript,” documenting the influence of race relations on his life and how sometimes lack of awareness typifies everyday life as well as church life.

The natural world was a love. For many years Russell grew old-timey field pumpkins, saving the seed from year to year, produced mainly for pumpkin bread! He saved the seeds and grew moonflower vines loving their 4”-across fragrant flowers blooming only at night. In spite of ticks and chiggers, picking wild blackberries was a favorite pastime, always for a cobbler of berries, sugar and biscuits. Russell’s love of nature and Methodist history connected in his 2015 book Methodism in the American Forest.

He took an active interest in family business. Cherry Mountain Farms, LLC and Cherry Mountain Bounce, LLC, the names he had chosen, are primarily woodland/timber management, in the Sunshine community of Rutherford County NC; he loved walking in the woods. He enjoyed watching the sun rise over Cherry Mountain and the moonrise with the slow creep of the light through the lacy mature trees on the ridge of the mountain. He noted the rise moving along the ridge with the seasons. Home, wherever it was, always had a fully-functioning fireplace for which he split the always-scavenged wood with wedges, mallet and ax.

Russell loved all kinds of music. On Sunday mornings @ 9 he always wanted to hear the Bach Cantata on WCPE; he loved “8-Track Flashback” on WNCU, high school 1950’s genre; and he enjoyed civil rights and protest music of the 1960’s, Bluegrass music and the Prairie Home Companion.

Messages to Russell poured in during his illness, many from his students: “I strive to embody the inclusive and justice-oriented leadership you have modeled for so many of us”; “His enthusiasm and knowledge were infectious and helped me fall in love with Methodist history…Even when I didn’t believe in myself, Dr. Richey believed in me and offered me words of praise, support, and guidance”; “you encouraged me, supported me, listened when I was struggling”.

A Celebration of Life is planned for Saturday, April 5, 2025 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 215 N. Church Street, Durham NC 27701, at 2 pm. Memorial gifts, in lieu of flowers, may be made to Trinity United Methodist Church or to the “Russell E. Richey and Merle Umstead Richey Visiting Professorship in Methodist and Wesleyan Studies Endowment” at Candler School of Theology, Emory University.