James Francis Strange

James Francis Strange died peacefully in his home on March 23, surrounded by family.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Lillian Carolyn Midkiff Strange, whom he courted at Rice University, children Mary Elizabeth Strange (Chris Bertaut), James Riley Strange (Laura), Katherine Alexandra Strange Burke (Aaron), Joanna Carissa Strange (Jonathan Tischio); and one granddaughter and five grandsons. He was born on February 2, 1938 in Pampa, Texas to Floyd Thomas Burchfield and Beuna Vista Burchfield (née Frost), the youngest of three children. His sisters Mary Lynn Jones and Thomasine McKenna predeceased him. He was later adopted by his mother's second husband, Jerry Donald Strange. An Eagle Scout, he spent many hours in the woods near his home in Tyler, Texas. He was ordained as an American and National Baptist minister in 1964, the year he graduated from Yale Divinity School, and founded Somerset Hills Baptist Church, now in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. While at Yale, he was trained in nonviolent protest, and engaged in Civil Rights sit ins at lunch counters. He completed a Ph.D. in 1970 at Drew University and began teaching in 1972 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he taught for the next 46 years. He considered his work as a biblical archaeologist to be a divine calling. He often said, "I just want to be the best archaeologist I can." He dug at many sites in Judea, Samaria, and the coast of Israel, but he made his career as a pioneer of the archaeology of Jewish villages in Upper Galilee, and then at the site of Sepphoris in Lower Galilee. A prolific scholar and teacher, he coauthored many books and wrote countless articles in his field, and he taught innumerable students in his undergraduate and graduate courses, eventually teaching grandchildren of some of his earliest students. For the same length of time, he taught Sunday School and sang in the bass section of the choir of Bayshore Baptist Church in Tampa, tasks which he loved no less than his academic work. At USF, he rose to the positions of Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. He founded the College of Arts and Sciences before returning full time to the classroom, his first love. He was honored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1987 with a Silver Medallion Award for Brotherhood, received a National Geographic grant in 1989, was on the board of directors for the Florida Endowment for the Humanities from 1983 to 87, was named Distinguished University Professor in 2001, received the Charles U. Harris Service Award from the American Schools of Oriental Research in 2006, and received many other fellowships and awards. He lectured in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Norway, South Africa, Bosnia, and Israel, and was frequently interviewed in television specials on the historical Jesus and archaeology of Israel. He loved his family, church, students, and colleagues deeply and is missed by people all over the world. A Memorial Service will be held at Bayshore Baptist Church on April 28th at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Bayshore Baptist Church, LifePath Hospice or The Strange-Midkiff Fellowships at ASOR.