WICHITA FALLS, Texas (ABP) — Landrum Leavell, who led New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for nearly three decades, died after an extended illness Sept. 26. He was 81.
Leavell was elected the seminary’s president in January 1975, and helmed the institution through some of the most turbulent years in the life of its parent denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.
Although he retired from the post Dec. 31, 1994, Leavell remained on campus as interim president until Dec. 31, 1995, when Chuck Kelley, the current president, succeeded him.
 Landrum Leavell, on the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus, in a 2005 photo. (Photo courtesy New Orleans Seminary.) |
Leavell led New Orleans Seminary through the entirety of the fundamentalist-moderate conflict that fractured the SBC during the 1980s. However, unlike his colleagues at the other five official Southern Baptist theological schools, Leavell managed to avoid significant scrutiny and controversy on his campus. That may have been, Kelly told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, because many in the conservative camp recognized Leavell as a theological ally — if not necessarily a political one.
He “kept the institution focused on its mission, which was turning out the next generation of pastors and ministers,” Kelley said. “There was no talk of the conflict in chapel [services], no public reference to it anywhere. He never asked what side anybody was on.”
Landrum P. Leavell II was born in Ripley, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1926, and raised in Newnan, Ga., where his father was pastor of the First Baptist Church. Ordained to the ministry in 1948, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from Mercer University in Georgia. He earned bachelor of divinity and doctor of theology degrees in New Testament and Greek from New Orleans Seminary.
He was the scion a family steeped in Southern Baptist tradition, including a number of relatives who were pastors, missionaries and denominational leaders. An uncle, Roland Leavell, also served as president of New Orleans Seminary.
Prior to accepting the presidency, he spent 27 years as a pastor of churches in Mississippi and Texas.
Leavell is credited with several innovations and improvements during his tenure at New Orleans. He led the school to establish a network of extension centers and introduced compressed interactive video to connect classes at centers and the main campus in real time.
Under his presidency, the seminary established the first center for evangelism and church growth and re-established an undergraduate program his uncle had started. The seminary renamed the program Leavell College in 2003.
Leavell and his wife, Jo Ann, also focused on assistance for seminary wives, including free educational programs, an endowment to purchase clothing and a lecture series.
He also was active in denominational life, including a stint as the SBC’s first vice president in 1968 and as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas from 1971 to 1973. He served as a trustee at Mississippi College from retirement until his death. He had been a longtime trustee of the former Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, and became a trustee of Baptist Community Ministries, a foundation established with the proceeds from the sale of the hospital.
He authored or contributed to 14 books, including Angels, Angels, Angels and Twelve Who Followed Jesus.
According to the seminary and to news reports, Leavell died in Wichita Falls, Texas, after a lengthy illness. Funeral services are scheduled for Sept. 30 at the First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, where he served as pastor before taking the seminary’s reins. Interment will take place Oct. 2 in Newnan.
He is survived by his wife, Jo Ann Paris Leavell; four children, Landrum Leavell III, Roland Leavell II, David Leavell and Ann Paris Leavell; and 10 grandchildren.
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