Roop honored

MU trustee receives Brethren service award

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 Eugene F. Roop ’64, a member of the Manchester University Board of Trustees, was presented with the Manchester University Church-University Service Award at the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Tampa, Fla., in July.

MU President Dave McFadden and Campus Pastor Walt Wiltschek presented the award.

“Eugene F. Roop has perhaps been for the Church of the Brethren what the train conductor was for the Polar Express: someone who has kept everything pointed in the right direction and on track and helping a lot of people in their belief along the way,” the citation said.

The Anderson, Ind., resident is best known in the church for his 15-year tenure as president of Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., a position from which he retired in 2007, and for his biblical scholarship and various commentaries and other publications.

An ordained minister, Roop has pastored congregations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Indiana, and served on a variety of church agency and community-related boards. 

He holds a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University, a Master of Divinity from Bethany and a bachelor of science from Manchester as part of the Class of 1964. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Manchester in 2001. 

The Manchester alumnus has been a dedicated member of its Board of Trustees, helping to maintain healthy ties between Manchester and the seminary while he was at the Bethany helm. 

Earlier this year, he and his wife established the Eugene F. and Delora A. Roop Endowed Fund that will help support speakers, programs and other initiatives that lift up Manchester’s Brethren heritage and keep those connections vital and strong.

By Anne Gregory, media relations specialist