Carlson Gerdau

NEW YORK CITY – Carlson Gerdau, of NYC, 22 February 1933 – 27 May 2017. Education: Buckley, St. Mark’s ’51; Harvard ’55, General Theological Seminary ’59. Son of the late Kathryn Schaefer Gerdau and Carl Gerdau of New York City.

Canon of the Episcopal Church who served presiding bishops Frank T. Griswold and Katharine Jefferts Schori and was Superior General of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, an international Anglican order which he joined in 1964. He found his vocation in the church in 1949 by serving as a counselor to the Brantwood Camp in Peterborugh, New Hampshire and only retired upon completion of his term at Bexley Hall in Ohio. He was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Anson P. Stokes, Jr. of Massachusetts and to the priesthood by Bishop Herman R. Page in 1959. He requested a position in the Midwest and served as vicar of St Mark’s, Ewen, and Church of the Ascension, Ontonagon, 1959-1965, St David’s, Sidnaw, 1960-1965, Church of the Nativity, L’Anse, 1962-1965, St. John’s Church, Munising, 1965-1971; and Rector, Trinity Church, Houghton, 1971-1978. In 1979 he was appointed Archdeacon, Diocese of Missouri, St Louis, where he served until 1986. After a sabbatical year spent studying Spanish in Guatemala and theology at the University of Chicago he resumed his ministry as Interim Rector, St Gregory’s Church, Deerfield, Illinois, 1987-1988. He became Director for Ministry, Deployment, and Communication in the Diocese of Chicago where he served as Canon to the Ordinary, 1988-1997. He returned to NYC as non to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, 1998-2007.

He served on the boards of the Episcopal Church Pension Fund; Bexley Hall Seminary where he became chair and oversaw its federation with Seabury-Western Seminary; Auburn Seminary; the Church Historical Society; and Friends of Canterbury Cathedral in the USA. He received honorary doctorates from General Theological Seminary, Bexley Hall; and Virginia Theological Seminary. He was a lifelong Democrat, a supporter of women’s ordination, known for his mentoring skills, gruffness and generosity, and love of reading.

He was a member of the Union Club, the Harvard Club, and the Church Club.

Sixth-generation New Yorker proud of his Times Square roots. Mourned by his four nieces, the daughters of his sister, Sondra Gerdau Blewer: Cecilia Blewer of New York City, Evelyn Blewer of Paris, Victoria Blewer of Weybridge, Vermont, Julia Cox of Boxford, Massachusetts and their husbands: Clayton Young, Chris Bohjalian, and Robert Cox; and their children: Theodore Young, Catherine and Grace Blewer, Thomas and Myrna Cox; cousins; and many friends. Funeral 11 a.m. at his ancestral church, St. Luke’s Lutheran, 46th between 8th and 9th Avenues. Private burial Woodlawn.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Brantwood Camp, PO Box 3350, Southborough, NH 03458 brantwood.org or NAACP, of which he was a lifelong member, NAACP Development, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215, naacp.org.