ELCA NEWS SERVICE August 30, 2005 Retired President of ELCA's Augsburg College, Oscar Anderson, Dies 05-157-FI/DJ* CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Oscar A. Anderson, retired president of Augsburg College, Minneapolis, and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Aug. 25 in Robbinsdale, Minn., from injuries suffered in a recent fall. He was 89 and resided in New Hope, Minn. Augsburg College was founded in 1869. Anderson was its eighth president. The college now serves more than 3,000 students. Anderson was credited with defining Augsburg's role as an urban college, while not losing its roots as both a liberal arts institution and a college of the church. At the dedication of the Oscar Anderson residence hall in 1993, Anderson said, "My goal for Augsburg College was to make it an urban college, not only one recognized within the urban setting but one utilizing the resources of a metropolitan setting." "Oscar Anderson was president of the college during two crucial decades and supervised our transition from a college in the city that wished it were in the country to a college fully engaged with the city that had grown up around it," said Dr. William V. Frame, who plans to retire in 2006 after nine years as Augsburg's president. "As perhaps the best pulpit preacher of his time, Oscar employed a razor sharp and telling wit to guide the college and its alumni through this crucial transition. He had returned to the college frequently since his retirement and invariably brought that wit and powerful rhetoric with him," Frame said. At the 2002 commencement ceremony for Augsburg College, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said, "It was in this hall when we'd gather for chapel that I remember as a first-year student hearing Oscar Anderson, our president, cry out for the Holy Spirit to stir up within each of us that faith which so many of us had ... in our hearts from parents and grandparents, so it might be for us a living faith." A service in memory of Anderson will be held Sept. 1 at Augsburg's Hoversten Chapel. Born April 19, 1916, in Minneapolis, Anderson was a graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. He completed his graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary, New York. Augsburg and St. Olaf are two of 28 ELCA colleges and universities; Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries. Anderson served as pastor of Lake Harriet Lutheran Church (now Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd), Minneapolis, before joining the staff of the International Young People's Luther League, the youth ministry of the former Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, in 1948. He returned to parish ministry as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, Minn. Anderson was president of Augsburg College from 1963 until his retirement in 1980. During those 17 years, the campus more than doubled in size, adding two tower residence halls, a student center, a music building and an ice arena. Anderson received many honors, including the Knight's Cross First Class of the Order of St. Olav from the Government of Norway; the Paul Harris Fellow award from Rotary International; the Distinguished Alumni Citation from both Augsburg and St. Olaf Colleges; and the Distinguished Service Award from the City of Minneapolis. In retirement Anderson served as interim president of Luther Seminary, interim pastor of a congregation in Atlanta, and first director of "Improve Public Understanding of Liberal Learning," a project of the University of Minnesota and other state, community and private colleges and universities. Anderson was preceded in death by his wife Leola; he is survived by two daughters and two sons. -- -- -- The home page of Augsburg College is at http://www.augsburg.edu/ on the Web. * Dan Jorgensen is director of public relations, Augsburg College, Minneapolis. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news