George W. M. Thompson Jr

Life of Reverend Dr. George W. M. Thompson, Jr.

Rev. George Walter Murray Thompson, Jr., Ph.D., D.D., departed this life on July 29,

2022. He was the firstborn child to Rev. Dr. George W. M. Thompson, Sr. and Mrs. Inez

Arrington Thompson on October 12, 1931.

Rev. Dr. Thompson, Jr. was educated in the public school system of Richmond, Virginia.

From childhood to adulthood, Rev. Dr. Thompson maintained a determination and focus that

would pave the way for his many accomplishments. After graduating high school, Rev.

Thompson earned his B.A. at Virginia Union, in Richmond. He eventually left Richmond and

traveled to Kentucky where he earned his Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist

Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He then headed to the Midwest where he

attended college at the University of Chicago, earning his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in

ethics. He had been a visiting professor and guest lecturer at several prestigious colleges and

universities to include Harvard, Trenton State College, and Fordham University in New York. In

1994, he was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Martha Vineyard

Seminary in Massachusetts.

He met his wife and love of his life, Sarah Elizabeth of North Carolina, at the Sharon

Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. They had one child, Sarita, whom they both loved dearly. He

served his first pastorate at the Second Baptist Church of Hinton, West Virginia. Having been

active in West Virginia, Illinois and Ohio churches during his student and teaching career, they

eventually came to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He then shepherded Providence Baptist

Church from 1975 to1981, where he organized the Providence Baptist Federal Credit Union and

inspired that church to undertake the construction expenses for a church in Africa. He

concurrently was an Associate Professor at East Stroudsburg University where he was awarded

for his 35 years of service in 2007.

Rev. Dr. Thompson led a brilliant and distinguished career that spanned decades and

reached many throughout the nation. He founded the New Horizon Baptist Church of

Philadelphia, PA in 1981. The mission of New Horizon is twofold: to emphasize worship and a

concern for education and the social world. Regarding the second part of this mission, the

church provided the place where its members applied the Bible to issues and concerns of the

everyday world, offered a multi-dimensional program to minister to the whole person, and

raised their consciousness about the adverse conditions of people in their mission fields while

responding to them. Rev. Dr. Thompson retired as Senior Pastor in 2008.

He was appointed by the Ohio Board of Regents to serve as consultant and evaluator of

master's and doctoral programs for accreditation in religion and theological studies for that

state's colleges, universities, and theological seminaries.

Generous as he was compassionate, he was the founder and financier of the George W.

Thompson, Jr. Foundation and Scholarship Fund that provided study awards for students in

Northwest Philadelphia based on moral achievement and academic progress.

He is preceded in death by his wife Sarah, his daughter, Sarita; and his brothers James

and Edward. He is survived by his sister Eleanor Timberlake (Norman); and brothers Douglas

(Florence), and Toussaint L'Ouverture, whom he helped his parents name. He has several

nephews, nieces, cousins, and close friends who all miss him dearly.