The Right Reverend David Benson Reed

The Right Reverend David Benson Reed, the Sixth Bishop of Kentucky and the senior Episcopal Bishop of the Episcopal Church, died Saturday March 11, 2023 at the age of 96.
In the vanguard of the ecumenical movement, Bishop Reed was an articulate proponent of its goals. He also was an early champion of equality for women in the Church. In both instances his actions spoke louder than his words.
Bishop Reed had a keen interest in the missionary work of the Church and considered being a missionary central to his vocation as a priest. He served the Episcopal Church in five dioceses; his longest tenure was the diocese of Kentucky, where he served twenty-two years.
It has been said that Bishop Reed was a great representative of a sacrificial missionary approach to ministry that is not seen as frequently today, that he was dedicated, faithful, and tenacious with a sense of humor and presence.
He was the first bishop of the diocese of Colombia, a post he held for eight years while organizing the diocese of Ecuador.
Bishop Reed led a one-year search to fill the deanship of Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville. In November 1986 he and the cathedral chapter announced the selection of the Rev. Geralyn Wolf as the first woman named to an Episcopal cathedral deanship since the decision in the American Church in 1976 to allow the ordination of women.
Bishop Reed was highly regarded both nationally and locally as a staunch advocate of the goals of the ecumenical movement. For the Episcopal Church at the national level he was chairman of the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and was an active participant in theological dialogues with Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. He also was involved in the Consultation on Church Union. He organized and was chairman of the first Interfaith Relations Committee for the Episcopal Church. He was Anglican co-chairman of the Anglican Orthodox Theological Consultation, served on the Committee on Foreign Relations, and was the first president of the Anglican Council of Latin America.
He was secretary of the National Council of Churches, president of the Kentucky Council of Churches, and an active participant in local ecumenical organizations. He was president of Louisville United Against Hunger (LUAH), which began the annual Hunger Walk in the City of Louisville.
Early in his priesthood Bishop Reed served the Episcopal Church in Panama and Costa Rica and was the first resident priest in Colombia, where he served six years.
Moving to New York, he spent three years in the Overseas Department where he was the principal architect for the Companion Diocese Program which now links dioceses throughout the Anglican Communion. He served a mission church for the Dakota people in Rapid City, South Dakota and was there when elected bishop for the new diocese of Colombia. His missionary activities included the three years in New York, travels to companion dioceses in Central America and Africa, as well as personal involvement with the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, India, and other countries where he and his wife traveled.
He served on the board of directors of Alliant Health Systems (formerly Norton Kosair Children's Hospital) Louisville, was a regent of the University of the South, was a member of the Louisville Rotary Club, and was instrumental in reviving the Harvard Club, where he was president for two years.
Following his retirement in 1994, Bishop Reed was assistant bishop of the diocese of Connecticut for two years and then executive director of the Global Episcopal Network. He became bishop-in-residence at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in 1997 and was an assisting bishop one month each year in the diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.
In later years he sought ways to offer "ministry" outside the Church through local volunteer work, serving as a mediator for Just Solutions in Family Court and Small Claims Court, working with the Sister Cities Tamale Committee, and was heavily committed to CASA, (Court-Appointed Special Advocates). He built Habitat houses and was a docent (graduating class 2013) at the Louisville Zoo. He had season tickets to the ballet, Actor's Theater, the Bach Society; he enjoyed the Louisville opera and the orchestra.
A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bishop Reed graduated from Harvard College and the Virginia Theological Seminary, following service in the Navy during World War II. He married Catherine Luckett, of Louisville in 1984 and the two of them are proud parents to his five children by a previous marriage: Mary Frances Reed (Andrew Spencer) Greensboro, NC, Jennifer Susan Reed (Mark Jones) Pittsburgh, PA, David Benson Reed, Jr. (Amy Leventer) Cazenovia, NY, Sarah Riggs Reed (Jeffrey Walker) Louisville, KY, Catherine Elizabeth Reed (Ronald D'Antonio) Syracuse, NY and his sister Marcia Reed Todd, Oakville, Ontario (Canada).
He was blessed with nine grandchildren: William Taylor Reed, Christopher Reed Jones, Sarah Elizabeth Spencer (Kevin Keziah), Elizabeth Mackay Reed, George Kilpen Spencer, Calvin Warren Jones, Emma Katherine Harris, Alice Riggs Harris, and Liza Reed Harris.
He was predeceased by his parents Bonnie Taylor Reed and Paul Spencer Reed and son-in-law Geoffrey Seltzer.
Important people in his life: his Saturday bicycle group, Joe Kirven, and the clergy of the Diocese of Kentucky.
There are some fortunate enough to recall and hold dear the image of an imposing prelate somehow agilely folding, and then plunking down, his six-foot-five frame onto the floor and tussling, gently horse-playing, with delighted, laughing and squealing grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements pending. Visitation, Friday April 14; funeral, Christ Church Cathedral, Saturday April 15.
Memorial gifts to honor the memory of Bishop Reed may be made to All Saints Center (mailed to the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, 425 S. 2nd Street, Suite 200, Louisville, KY 40202), The Home of the Innocents, or to the Louisville Zoo.
Arrangements under the direction of Pearson's, "Where Louisville Goes to Remember."