Dear Ginny and family, I only heard of Laird's passing this weekend from Bruce Reyes Chow here in Arkansas. I want to express to you my profound gratitude for Laird and the wise counsel, encouraging support, and kind friendship he showed me as Chair of the Board of Trustees, and later as my successor as interim President at San Francisco Theological Seminary. As you well know, Laird was a consistently kind, gracious, supportive presence; a wise counselor; an empathetic listener, and one of those rare leaders who is committed and able to draw people from divergent perspectives together around common priorities and a shared vision. He was always a personal strength and counselor for me during our shared leadership of the seminary in very precarious times, often shining a fresh light on a difficult situation, but never imposing his own perspective in a way that might minimize my role or responsibility. I don't know the circumstances of his passing, but I do know that our God of grace has received him into the arms of the divine mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Thank you for so generously sharing him and yourselves with my wife Jan and me during our time together serving God and the Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.
