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Bishop Sanford Hampton (1935-2024)

The Rt. Rev. Sanford (Sandy) Zangwill Kaye Hampton, former Bishop Suffragan of Minnesota and assisting bishop in the dioceses of Olympia and Western Oregon, died June 28 at 89.

Bishop Diana D. Akiyama of Western Oregon, in announcing his death to members of her diocese, remembered Hampton fondly.

“Very soon after my election, I received a warm and welcoming letter from Sandy,” Akiyama wrote. “He served his fellow bishops in his retirement by collecting our prayer requests and sharing them with the rest of the House of Bishops. His emails with prayer requests kept us connected as we prayed for one another.”

Hampton was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1935 and grew up in Manhasset, New York, said an obituary by Paul Schutz of the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon. He was a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and was ordained deacon and priest in 1966. He worked in advertising before sensing a call to ordained ministry.

As a priest he served parishes in Illinois, Utah, Oregon, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. When he was elected bishop in 1988, the other primary contender was the Rev. Margo Maris, who could have become the second woman elected to the episcopate. Hampton was elected on the fourth ballot.

As a bishop he served in Minnesota (1989-95), Olympia (1996-2004), and Western Oregon (2008-10). He provided valuable pastoral leadership in Western Oregon after the abrupt resignation of its ninth bishop, the Rt. Rev. Johncy Itty.

He moved to San Diego in 2010. A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. August 3 at St. Dunstan’s Church in San Diego, and a video stream will be available.

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