Duke Kimbrough McCall, a Southern Baptist statesman and former president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., died April 2 near his home in Delray Beach, Fla., from congestive heart failure and respiratory distress. He was 98.
Duke McCallMcCall, whose contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention cover nearly 70 years, shaped both Southern Seminary and the denomination in ways that continue to define them today. When he became the seventh president of the seminary in 1951 at the age of 36, he already owned a record of denominational leadership.
He served as president of three different Southern Baptist entities: New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (1943-1946), the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (1946-1951) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1951-1982). He invested in denominational leadership as a very young man and was only 28 when elected president of New Orleans Seminary (then Baptist Bible Institute).
By the time he retired in 1982, he had become the longest-serving president in the history of Southern Seminary.
“A giant has fallen in Israel. The death of Dr. Duke K. McCall reminds us of the lengthened shadow one man can cast over a great denomination,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., the current president of Southern Seminary. “Dr. McCall was a giant among Southern Baptists. He belongs to that great generation of Southern Baptist leaders who shaped the convention as the 20th century brought new opportunities and new challenges. He, along with Drs. W.A. Criswell and Herschel H. Hobbs, brought the Southern Baptist Convention into the modern age.”