Union Mourns
Rev. Dr. E. Lee Hancock
Reflections from
the Union Community
Memorial Created by
Hancock Family
More from NYTS on
Rev. Dr. E. Lee Hancock
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Union Mourns
Alumna Rev. Dr. E. Lee Hancock '78, First Seminary Pastor
The Rev. Dr. Eugenia Lee Hancock,
Union’s first Seminary Pastor, and more recently Professor of Urban Studies and
Spirituality at New York Theological Seminary, died on Tuesday, June 1,
2010. She was 58.
A notice of her passing was posted almost immediately
on the NYTS website, and further information including funeral arrangements
will be released as they are made available.
A 1978 graduate of Union and an ordained
Presbyterian minister, Lee began as Union’s pastor in 1988. The position, originally part-time, was
developed and defined by Lee as she responded to the spiritual and pastoral
needs of Union staff and students. A
powerful gift for preaching and leadership in times of crisis and conflict
marked her ministry here. She headed the
Pastoral Care Team which included the then Director of Seminary Life, the
resident advisors, and the pastoral psychotherapists.
She resigned as Seminary Pastor in 1993 to
begin her Ph.D. program at Drew University.
Her dissertation, which was completed in the area of Religion and
Society, was an ethnographic study of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
in Newark.
Dr. Hancock later became Dean of
Auburn Theological Seminary, where she directed the Center for Church Life and
the Center for Multifaith Education.
An ordained member of the Presbyterian
Church USA, she served as a minister at Judson Memorial Church and Central
Presbyterian Church in New York; Director of the Women in Ministry Project for
the National Council of Churches; Associate Executive Presbyter for the
Presbytery of the City of New York; and as a program consultant to numerous
church agencies, denominations, non-profits and corporations.
Dr. Hancock lectured widely, published
articles, and edited The Book of Women's Sermons: Hearing God in Each
Other's Voices (Riverhead Books, 2000). Her areas of interests included
urban ministry and urban religion; healing and health care; the sociology and
anthropology of religion; and spirituality.
Our thoughts and prayers are with
Lee’s husband Mark Rubinsky, and their two daughters, Hannah and Sarah.
For more information about Dr. Hancock and memorial arrangements, visit
the NYTS website.
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