Russell V. DeLong

Russell Victor DeLong (1901–1981) was a Nazarene minister, evangelist, and college president.

Early life and education

DeLong was a New Hampshire native,[1] the son of a minister.[2] He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts,[1] then earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Boston University.[2] He later received an honorary doctor of divinity from the Northwest Nazarene College.[2]

Academic career and ministry

DeLong was ordained in 1926 and came on faculty at the Northwest Nazarene College (NNC) that same year.[3] He was elected president of NNC in 1927 and served until 1932, when he left to complete his doctoral work at Boston University, but was elected to the presidency at NNC a second time in 1935 and served there again until 1942.[1] It was under his first administration that NNC gained educational accreditation as a two-year school, and under his second that the college gained accreditation as a four-year school.[4]

He then served as District Superintendent for the Northwest Indiana District Church of the Nazarene until 1945,[3] when he was elected founding dean of Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS) in Kansas City, Missouri.[5] While at NTS in the 1950s, he operated a successful radio ministry.[3] He also was the author, compiler, or editor of at least 33 books.[6] DeLong later served as president of Pasadena College, from 1957 to 1960.

Notes and references

1. Twelfth Presidential Inauguration at Northwest Nazarene University Archived 2009-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
2. The High Cost of Low Living by Russell Victor DeLong. Kansas city: Beacon Hill Press, 1949.
3. There Are No Moral Accidents by Russell V. DeLong
4. Fall 2008 President's Dinner at NNU Archived 2009-08-09 at the Wayback Machine
5. About NTS Archived 2009-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
6. Illnesses of the Modern Soul by Russell Victor DeLong. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press (1965).