Leah Gaskin Fitchue

Leah Gaskin Fitchue (June 27, 1940 – June 18, 2019), also known as Leah Gaskin White and Leah Gaskin Coles, was an American city official, professor of religious studies and college administrator. She was president of Payne Theological Seminary from 2003 to 2015.

Leah Gaskin Fitchue
BornJune 27, 1940
West Palm Beach, Florida
DiedJune 18, 2019
NationalityAmerican
Other namesLeah Gaskin White, Leah Gaskin Coles
OccupationCity official, college administrator
Known forPresident of Payne Theological Seminary

Early life

Leah Doretha Gaskin Fitchue was born in West Palm Beach, Florida[1] and raised in Philadelphia,[2] the daughter of Joseph James Matchett[3] and Rosie Lee Jones.[4] She earned a bachelor's degree at Rutgers University, a master's degree from the University of Michigan, a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an Ed.D. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1974.[5][6]

Career

Fitchue was ordained as an iterant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church). From 1968 to 1970, she was education director of the Philadelphia Urban League. She was the appointed head of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations from 1984[2] to 1992;[7] the city later investigated and sued her for misuse of funds related to that position.[8][9]

Fitchue was a professor of religious studies at Hampton University. She was the first black woman faculty member at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the first woman to earn tenure there. She was vice president and academic dean at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta,[10] and president of the Gaskin-Fitchue Group, a consulting firm.[5]

Fitchue served as president of Payne Theological Seminary in Ohio from her installation in 2004[11] to her retirement in 2015. She was the school's first woman president,[12] the first African-American woman to serve as president of an accredited theological seminary,[13] and the first woman to serve as head of any historically black theological seminary in the United States.[14] During her tenure as president, Payne began offering online degrees, and began building a doctor of ministry degree.[15] “There is no greater opportunity than improving a system when old structures are beginning to give way,” she told a Harvard publication in 2012.[5]

She contributed a chapter to the essay collection Contesting Post-Racialism: Conflicted Churches in the United States and South Africa.[16] In her last year, she taught an innovative course on theology, crime, and public policy through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, with students from both Virginia Theological Seminary and the Alexandria Detention Center.[17]

In 2015, the Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue Bikeway was dedicated in Xenia, Ohio.[18]

Personal life

Leah Gaskin married Anthony Fitchue in 1974; they divorced in 1978. She married Dr. Charles Coles in 1991.[19] She died in 2019, aged 78 years.[15] Her gravesite is in Frazer, Pennsylvania.[20] She was survived by a daughter, Ebony Joy Fitchue.[6][21]

References
  1. "Women's Day Observance Set". The Central New Jersey Home News. 1980-03-29. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Cooke, Russell (1984-03-24). "Goode Replaces Chief of Anti-Bias Agency". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Obituaries". Valdosta Daily Times. September 10, 2001. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  4. "Rosie Lee Jones". Star-Ledger. August 6, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  5. Anderson, Jill (November 20, 2012). "Agent of Change: Leah Gaskin Fitchue, Ed.D.'74". Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  6. "Death of Rev. Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue, First Female President of Payne Theological Seminary" The Christian Recorder.
  7. Dubin, Murray (1988-03-13). "Human Relations panelists puzzled by their mass dismissal last week". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 78. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Lin, Jennifer (1992-03-12). "First act of the new chief is a probe of the old one". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Davies, Dave (1995-03-21). "City Charges Ex-Official with Misusing $11,000". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "ITC's First Woman Dean Has Other Firsts". The Atlanta Voice. 1999-07-03. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-01-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Moss, Khalid (2004-11-27). "Taking the Reins at Payne". Dayton Daily News. p. 35. Retrieved 2020-01-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Black woman to lead AME seminary in Ohio: Leah Gaskin Fitchue at Payne Theological Seminary". The Christian Century. January 11, 2005. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  13. Collier-Thomas, Bettye (2010-02-02). Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 481. ISBN 978-0-307-59305-4.
  14. "Rev. Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue". .base (Black Theology Project). Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  15. "Leah Gaskin Fitchue, a trailblazer in theological education, dies at age 78". The Christian Century. June 27, 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  16. Smith, R. Drew (2015). Contesting post-racialism : conflicted churches in the United States and South Africa. Ackah, William, Reddie, Anthony, Tshaka, Rothney Stok. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62674-505-6. OCLC 887188301.
  17. "Sheriff's Office and Virginia Theological Seminary Partner for Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program". City of Alexandria, Virginia. April 29, 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  18. Warren, Lee (2016-06-30). "These Riders Are Taking it Slow". Dayton Daily News. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-01-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Bykofsky, Stu (1991-08-08). "Did I Say That?". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 40. Retrieved 2020-01-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Funeral Announcement of Rev. Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue". Taylor's Funeral Home. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  21. Callahan, Michael (1984-06-07). "New Pulpit: Minister Fights Bigotry in an Official Role". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 38. Retrieved 2020-01-27 – via Newspapers.com.
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