Paul Losh (courtesy Central Seminary)
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VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — Paul Losh, a lifelong American Baptist who served as head of two denominational institutions, died Feb. 27 at a retirement home in Worcester, Pa., according to American Baptist News Service. He was 88.
He was deeply ingrained in the life of American Baptist Churches USA, having been raised the son of American Baptist home missionaries, earning degrees from American Baptist schools and serving at the helms of both an ABC-affiliated seminary and a state convention.
Losh was born Jan. 27, 1922, in Denver. He grew up in several Western states as his parents, John and Beatrice Losh, moved around planting churches, starting Sunday schools and holding revival meetings in the 1920s and '30s. He once noted that, due to his family’s itinerant work, he attended 32 elementary schools before he reached the sixth grade.
Losh earned his bachelor’s degree from Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan.; a master’s in divinity from Central Baptist Theological Seminary (then located in Kansas City, Kan., but now in Shawnee, Kan.); and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He was ordained while still in college and served as pastor of churches in Kansas and Colorado. He worked as director of Christian education for the Kansas Baptist State Convention — now part of the American Baptist Churches of the Central Region — prior to joining the education faculty at Central Seminary.
In 1956, at age 34, Losh became the youngest president in Central’s history. He served for 19 years. Under his leadership the school became fully accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools; its endowment grew by more than 500 percent; and a new library quadrupled the size of Central’s book collection. He became president emeritus in 1975.
In 1976 Losh became executive minister of the Vermont Baptist State Convention (now part of the American Baptist Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire), retiring from that position in 1988.
Molly Marshall
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“Dr. Paul Losh served faithfully during critical years in the seminary’s history,” said Molly Marshall, Central Seminary’s current president. “On his watch two critical actions occurred: he led the board to clarify the relationship of the seminary with the American Baptist Churches while at the same time preserving and even enhancing the ecumenical openness and spirit that had characterized the school since its founding. The other action was to bring the academic program and standards to the point where the school could be fully accredited by its appropriate accrediting agency. This he accomplished, and his legacy of strengthening the school endures today. I am grateful for his investment of life into Central.”
Losh and his wife, Ruth Veasman Losh, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last August. They had been members of the First Baptist Church of Burlington, Vt., for 34 years.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother and two grandsons. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Veasman Losh; two daughters; a son; seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a sister and a sister-in-law. His daughter, Janelle Losh Trulson, is married to current ABC International Ministries Executive Director Reid Trulson.
A memorial service will be held at Meadowood Retirement Community in Worcester, Pa., on March 7 at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be given to the Paul T. Losh Scholarship Fund at Central Seminary.
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