Ralph B. Potter Jr.

Ralph Benajah Potter, Jr., Professor of Social Ethics Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School, passed away at home with family by his side on Thursday, February 25th, 2021.He was 89 years old and had been in declining health for a number of years. Ralph was married in 1952 to Jean Potter, who predeceased him. The children from this marriage and their families are: Anna Potter of Brattleboro,VT and her daughter Marguerite Dooley of Washington, DC; Andrew Potter, his wife Anne Donovan and their son Owen Potter of Brooklyn, NY; James Potter of San Francisco, CA; Margaret Potter, her husband Wilbur Kim and their children Alexander, Daniel, William, and Fraser (Isabella) Kim of Arlington, MA. He was married to Christine Mitchell in 1985, with whom he had two children, Benajah Potter who resides in Arlington with his wife Sarahand their son Charles; and Christopher Potter of Manchester, NH.Ralph also leaves his sister, Barbara Birnie and her husband Bill, and their children Brian Birnie and his wife Beth; Doug Birnie and his wife Debi; and Diane Birnie Bock; and cousin Richard White and his wife Emily of Seattle, WA; as well as numerous great nieces and nephews. The 1931 Los Angeles Times baby of the year, Ralph graduated from Eagle Rock High School in 1948 and Occidental College in 1952. He then went on to Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California in 1952-53 and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, graduating as class president in 1955. Ralph was an ordained Presbyterian minister and served for three formative years as a missionary in Appalachia with Jean, where he was pastor of the Clay County Presbyterian Larger Parish in Kentucky. He enrolled at Harvard Divinity School in 1958, and joined the faculty at Harvard in 1965 after spending two years at the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA while completing his (800 page) thesis for a Doctorate in Theology. As a professor of social ethics, he taught courses for thirty-eight years on topics including Christian ethics, friendship, conversation, the simple life, and fame. He delivered the school's Convocation address in 1997 titled "Moralists, Maxims, and Formation for Ministry." Ralph was a founding fellow of the Hastings Center and was a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for Christian Ethics, Socit Europene de Culture, and the Society for Values in Higher Education. He wrote numerous scholarly articles and authored the book War and Moral Discourse.In 1974-75, Ralph and his family split his sabbatical year from Harvard between Washington, DC, where he was a fellow at the Kennedy Center for Bioethics (now the Kennedy Institute of Ethics) and France, where he served as Theologian-in- Residence at the American Church in Paris. Ralph retired from the faculty of the Harvard Divinity School in 2003, though he remained connected to Harvard.He reinvigorated and served as steward of The Shop Club, a regular meeting of professors from different parts of the university. He was a member of the Senior Common Room of Lowell House and later Winthrop House, and closely followed Harvard's athletic teams, particularly the Crimson football team.Ralph was an accomplished athlete and played on the varsity basketball team at both Eagle Rock High School and Occidental College. He continued to participate in a variety of sports for much of his life, including cycling, running, tennis, and weightlifting. Ralph was a scrupulous archivist and maintained detailed records of times, distances and repetitions. Throughout the 1970s and beyond, Ralph commuted from his home in Arlington to his office at Harvard by bicycle, undaunted by rainy or even wintry weather conditions. Ralph always considered himself a California boy, a transplant, yet he spent most of his life in Cambridge and Arlington, Massachusetts close to family and the life he created. There will be a celebration of his life at a later date, when it is safe.