Rev. Joseph H. Evans

Rev. Joseph H. Evans was president of the Chicago Urban League while pastor of a prominent South Side church in the 1960s and later became the first African-American president of the United Church of Christ.

Rev. Evans, 92, died of natural causes on Saturday, April 12, at his home in Sarasota, Fla., said his son-in-law, Kenneth Edelin.

Rev. Evans, who grew up in Chicago, was pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, 5700 S. Prairie Ave., from 1953 to 1967.

The church was filled with members of the black professional class then, and Rev. Evans' thoughtful style was well-suited to his congregation, said Norman J. Williams, chief executive officer of Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan, a church member whose father knew Rev. Evans well.

"He would have been part of a group of men who mentored younger men and pastored not only members of their church, but young men who were lawyers, physicians and businessmen," Williams said.

Active in the community, Mr. Evans was elected president of the Chicago Urban League in December 1959.

Rev. Evans was national secretary of the United Church of Christ from 1967 until 1983, except for a year when he served as president after the 1976 death of Robert Moss. He is the only black president in the denomination's history.

A graduate of Western Michigan University and Yale Divinity School, Rev. Evans was pastor at churches including Grace Congregational in New York and Mt. Zion Congregational in Cleveland before coming to Good Shepherd in Chicago.

After retiring as the denomination's secretary in 1983, he continued to fill in as an interim pastor at various churches. He moved to Sarasota, Fla., in 1990.

Rev. Evans is also survived by his wife, Harriette; daughters Lesley Christian, Harriette Smith and Barbara Edelin; a brother, Bruce; eight grandchildren; and nine-great grandchildren.

Services will be held Saturday in Sarasota.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-04-18/news/0804180157_1_int...