John H. Mack

John H. Mack, 65, died Jan. 15 of respiratory failure at his home in Washington, D.C. His wife is Barbara Gerlach.

Son of the late Grace and Lewis Mack, John was co-pastor with his wife of Trinity Congregational United Church of Christ, Scranton, from 1971 to 1973. John was raised in New Canaan and attended New Canaan public schools and New Canaan Country School. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1960 and Princeton University in 1964, then joined the Marine Corps and served as an infantry officer from 1964 to 1967. On his return from Vietnam, John entered Union Theological Seminary. There he met and married Barbara Gerlach and they graduated together with master of divinity degrees in 1971. They were called as co-pastors of Trinity Congregational Church in September 1971 as one of the early husband and wife team ministries. John was known for his thoughtful preaching, his work with the youth group and his ministry to the elderly and shut-in. He was also chaplain at the Lackawanna County Prison and worked at the Peace and Freedom Center, where he did a coffee house for teenagers and set up a social service drop-in center.

In 1973, the family moved to Boston, where John served as executive and clinical director of Together Inc., a community-based outreach program for at-risk teens and their families. In 1976, John became the clinical director of the Cambridgeport Problem Center, Cambridge, Mass., where, in addition to overseeing community mental-health services, he supervised a tenant services program in public housing and, later, a community mediation program.

While in Boston, John and Barbara adopted Jessica and Peter, both born in Colombia. And in 1984, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where John began a 23-year journey as pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ. Again Barbara joined him in that ministry. His was a ministry of challenge, both spiritually and communally. He challenged himself, together with First Church members, to build in practical ways an ever-widening and inclusive community. In part this meant becoming an open and affirming church welcoming gays and lesbians, working to be more racially and culturally diverse, serving as a hub of hospitality for homeless and poor people in the downtown area and joining with local, national and international groups as a force for social change.

In his last years at First Church, John staffed the process for redeveloping the church's entire site into a new, accessible and innovative mixed-use structure that will house the church and its expanded social service programs, all to be financed by eight floors of office space above. John retired from First Church in June. He planned to take a year off to finish writing a novel and then begin the next phase of his life, teaching English in the most challenging inner-city high school that Washington, D.C., had to offer. John's lungs were irreparably damaged when he developed high-altitude pulmonary edema and drug-resistant pneumonia while trekking with his wife in the Himalayas of Nepal in November. He passed away surrounded by his family.

Also surviving are a daughter, Jessica Prentice, Washington, D.C.; a son, Peter Gerlach-Mack, Silver Spring, Md.; two grandchildren, Antonio Rodriguez and Sofia Prentice; a brother, Talbot Mack, The Plains, Va.; a sister, Lucy Mack, Brookline, Mass.; and many in-laws, nephews and nieces.

A memorial service will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ, 4704 13th St. NW, Washington, D.C. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to First Congregational United Church of Christ and designated for the Community Chorus or the Dinner Program for Homeless Women, 504 3rd St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001.