Robert Bruce Mullin, Ph.D., a prominent historian of the Episcopal Church, died July 11 at 70. In the early 2000s, Mullin Bruce provided historical testimony for the chancellor’s office of the Episcopal Church amid the church’s many court cases involving property disputes. He was later appointed historiographer of the Episcopal Church (2012-22).
Mullin was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Mountainside. He majored in history at the College of William & Mary, then earned a master of arts in religion at Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religion from Yale University. His doctoral dissertation became his first book, Episcopal Vision/American Reality: High Church Theology and Social Thought in Evangelical America (Yale, 1986).
He taught at North Carolina State University in Raleigh from 1985 to 1998, and became a full professor. From 1998 to 2014 he taught at General Theological Seminary, where he was the Society for the Promotion of Religion and Learning Professor of History and World Mission, Professor of Modern Anglican Studies, and served as subdean of academic affairs. He was a committed ecumenist and a board member of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.
He is survived by his wife, Judith Walker Mullin; a sister; a daughter; and two grandsons.
The Rev. Thomas C. Shepherd, who helped form a ministry among ex-prisoners and their families, died July 19 at 86.
He was born in Toledo, Ohio, and was a graduate of the University of Toledo and Bexley Hall Seminary. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1963.
He worked as a parish priest in Ohio, taught at Trinity-Pawling School in New York, and then taught at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Rome. He returned to parish ministry in Walden, N.Y. While serving at Christ Church in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, he helped found Friends of Prisoners. When he retired in 2000, the program had helped 1,000 ex-offenders.
In his retirement years, he was active in Integrity and in Sons of the American Revolution.
He is survived by a brother, a niece, and a nephew. A funeral Eucharist will be livestreamed from All Saints Episcopal Church, Ft. Lauderdale, in early fall.
The Rev. Mary Luck Stanley, who in 2020 became co-rector of Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore, died July 3 at age 60.
“She was a faithful presence who didn’t need the limelight, but deserved it,” Bishop Carrie Schofield-Broadbent said. “Old St. Paul’s is a totally new parish today and thrived under her and her husband, Mark, who is co-rector.”
Old St. Paul’s, founded in 1692, is known as the Mother Church of Baltimore. “We cherish people so they’ll know they’re cherished by God,” she told The Baltimore Sun in 2017. “We’re trying to bring a spirit of love to this part of downtown Baltimore.”
She was born in Houston and grew up in Dallas, and was an alumnus of Texas A&M University and Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
Stanley was one of the authors of Grace in the Rearview Mirror: Four Women Priests on Brokenness, Belonging, and the Beauty of God (Wipf & Stock, 2023).
She is survived by her husband, a brother, and two grown children.
Other Deaths