Rosenberger, Arthur S. (1898-1968)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Dec 12 p. 3

Birth date: 1898 Sep 6

text of obituary:

Well Known Pastor And Former College President Dies

Quakertown, Pa. — Rev. Arthur S. Rosenberger, 70, well-known retired pastor of the General Conference Mennonite Church and a former president of Bluffton College (Ohio), died Dec. 3 at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville, after a brief illness.

During his long career in the ministry Rev. Rosenberger served pastorates in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He was president of Bluffton College from 1935-38, and in 1950 the college granted him an honorary D.D. degree. He served for 21 years on the Board of Education of the General Conference and 21 years on the board of Mennonite Biblical Seminary, most of that time as chairman.

Funeral services were conducted Dec. 6 in the West Swamp Mennonite Church, where he had been pastor from 1948 until his retirement in 1962.

(A more complete report on Rev. Rosenberger's life and ministry will appear in a later issue.)

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Dec 19 p. 9

text of obituary:

Served Churches, Schools During 45-Year Ministry

QUAKERTOWN, PA. — Arthur S. Rosenberger, 70, of R. D. 1, Quakertown, well known retired pastor and educator of the General Conference Mennonite Church, died Dec. 3 at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville.

He was born here on Sept. 6, 1898, the son of Rev. Seward M. and Emma (Sell) Rosenberger. On Dec. 2, 1923 he was married to Ella Habegger of Berne, Ind. by Rev. Paul E. Whitmer. The couple quietly remembered their 45th wedding anniversary in the hospital the day before he passed away.

ON APRIL 14, 1911 he was baptized by Rev. N. B. Grubb and received into the First Mennonite Church of Philadelphia. The depth of his dedication to Jesus Christ and His church was revealed later when he chose to enter the ministry.

He attended Northeast High School in Philadelphia and then when on to Pennsylvania State University and Bluffton College where he received a B.A. degree. He earned a B.D. degree at Witmarsum Seminary in Ohio and a Master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rev. Rosenberger was ordained on June 10, 1923 in the Germantown Mennonite Church, Philadelphia. Following a summer pastorate in Wayland, Iowa, where he served both the town and country Mennonite churches, he accepted the pastorate of the St. John's Mennonite Church near Pandora, Ohio, where he served from 1923 - 1930. From there he moved to Pennsylvania and for the next four years had the three-church charge of West Swamp, Bethany, and Flatland, in and around Quakertown.

IN 1934 Rev. Rosenberger was offered a position on the faculty of Bluffton College, whereupon the Rosenberger family moved to Bluffton, Ohio. A year later he was called to the presidency of the college. For the next three years, which were during our country's "great depression," Rev. Rosenberger led Bluffton College through pobably [sic] the most difficult period in its history. Later he sat on the college board of trustees for two terms.

In June of 1950 Bluffton College conferred on Rev. Rosenberger the Doctor of Divinity degree in recognition of his service both to the college and to the church.

IN THE YEARS that followed Dr. Rosenberger served the Salem Church near Dalton, Ohio (1938-1948) and then the West Swamp Church from 1948 until his retirement in 1962.

In addition to his regular pastorate duties, Dr. Rosenberger served 21 years on the board of education of the General Conference and 21 years on the board of trustees (and most of that time as chairman) of Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind. These years saw the growth of the seminary from its infancy including its major move from Chicago to its present campus in Elkhart — years filled with difficult and far reaching decisions. Other positions of high responsibility which he was asked to assume included the presidencies of two district conferences, chairman of the board of the Mennonite Home for the Aged at Frederick, Pa., and offices in a large number of General Conference, district, and local committees.

UPON RETIREMENT Dr. Rosenberger continued to be quite active, serving as interim pastor of the Hereford Mennonite Church, Bally, the Church of the Good Samaritan, Holland, Pa., and several times of the First Mennonite Church, Allentown. This past summer he was visiting minister for the Zion Church, Souderton. He was also in demand as a supply minister.

Surviving are his wife Ella; a daughter Elnore, whose husband Rev. Burton Yost is assistant professor of Bible at Bluffton College; two sons, Dr. David Rosenberger, assistant dean of the College of Education at the University of Toledo, and Richard Rosenberger, practicing attorney in Souderton and Quakertown; three brothers, Willard S. of La Habra, Calif., Warren S. of Cresskill, N. J., and Edgar S. of R. D. 1, Quakertown; and 11 grandchildren.

The Mennonite obituary: 1968 Dec 17 p. 788
The Mennonite obituary: 1968 Dec 24 p. 802