VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/3/10)—Dr. Paul T. Losh, former president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, KS and executive minister of the Vermont Baptist State Convention, died Saturday, February 27, 2010 at Meadowood Retirement Community in Worcester, PA where he had resided since 2003.
Losh was born January 27, 1922 in Denver, Colorado to Rev. John and Beatrice Losh. He lived his early childhood on an auto chapel car in which his parents served as American Baptist home missionaries. Traveling throughout Arizona in the 1920s, the Losh family started Sunday Schools, planted churches and held evangelistic meetings. Losh noted that due to his family’s itinerant missionary service, he attended 32 elementary schools before reaching sixth grade. After attending four high schools in three different states, Losh completed school at West High in Denver, CO.
Losh earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ottawa University in Ottawa, KS in 1944, a Master of Theology degree from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, KS in 1946 and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO in 1948. He was honored with a Doctor of Divinity degree conferred by his alma mater, Ottawa University, in 1964.
Losh was ordained in 1942 and served as pastor of the Delaware Baptist Church, Fairview, KS; Peyton Baptist Church, Peyton, CO; and as director of Christian Education for the Kansas Baptist State Convention prior to becoming the professor of Christian Education at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, a position he held for 24 years.
In 1956, at age 34, Losh became the youngest and second-longest serving president in Central Baptist Theological Seminary’s history, serving for 19 years. Under his leadership the school became fully accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools; the endowment was more than quintupled; and a new state-of-the-art library was built, quadrupling the library collection. He became president emeritus in 1975. He served as interim senior minister at First Baptist Church of Dayton, OH in 1975.
In 1976 Losh became executive minister of the Vermont Baptist State Convention (now part of the American Baptist Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire) where he ministered until he retired in 1988 and was then named executive minister emeritus. In 1990 Central Baptist Theological Seminary honored him as Alumnus of the Year.
“Dr. Paul Losh served faithfully during critical years in the seminary’s history,” said Dr. Molly Marshall, president of Central Seminary. “On his watch two critical actions occurred: he led the Board to clarify the relationship of the seminary with the American Baptist Churches while at the same time preserving and even enhancing the ecumenical openness and spirit that had characterized the school since its founding. The other action was to bring the academic program and standards to the point where the school could be fully accredited by its appropriate accrediting agency. This he accomplished, and his legacy of strengthening the school endures today. I am grateful for his investment of life into Central.”
Losh was a member of Phi Delta Kappa (professional educators), the Religious and National Education Associations, the National Council of Churches, and the Rotary Club. He served as a proxy delegate to the Executive Committee of the Baptist World Alliance; the Governor’s Delegate to the White House Conference on Children and Youth; was named “Distinguished Clergyman” by the Chief of Chaplains to visit Untied States Air Force bases in Alaska; was on the General Staff Council of the American Baptist Churches/USA; served as chairman of the Board of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies; was president of the Vermont Ecumenical Council and held numerous other leadership positions.
Losh was named in Who’s Who in the Midwest, in American Education, in American College and Education, and in Executives and Professionals.
Losh and his wife, Ruth, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on August 18, 2009. They have been members of First Baptist Church, Burlington, VT for 34 years. They enjoyed traveling and have been on church and mission study tours to Israel, Zaire, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma.
During the Cold War years, he and his wife traveled to Yugoslavia as early participants in People to People, a citizen exchange program established in 1956 by Pres. Dwight Eisenhower to promote cultural understanding and peace between citizens around the world. Losh was a participant in the first Bridges for Peace Religious Leaders Exchange to the Soviet Union.
Losh was an avid reader who enjoyed travel, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, stamp collecting, and painting. He was the author of numerous articles and a book, Teaching Senior Highs, published by Judson Press.
Losh was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Kenneth Losh and two grandsons, Jonathan Losh and Joel Garnett. He is survived by his wife Ruth Veasman Losh, his children Dr. David Losh (Kandis) of Bellevue, WA, Janelle Trulson (Reid) of Collegeville, PA, and Lisa Garnett (Jim) of Cassopolis, MI, their spouses, seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a sister, Phyllis Bohlender of Minden, NE and a sister-in-law, Marie Losh of Claremont, CA.
A memorial service will be held at Meadowood Retirement Community, 3205 West Skippack Pike, Worcester, PA on Sunday, March 7 at 1:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be given to Central Baptist Theological Seminary, 6601 Monticello Road, Shawnee, KS 66226-3513 for the Paul T. Losh Scholarship Fund.
Condolences may be sent to Mrs. Ruth Losh, 70 Spruce Run, Lansdale, PA 19446.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.