D. A. McGavran; Fuller Mission Founding Dean
Donald Anderson McGavran, the son of missionaries who became the founding dean of Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Mission, has died at his home in Altadena. He was 92.
Over the years the India-born McGavran did missionary work in that country and in Africa, as well as lecturing and founding churches in the United States.
In 1965 he became founding dean of the Pasadena-based Fuller seminary’s mission program, retiring in 1971 to teach and write. He was the author of hundreds of articles and books on missions and evangelism. His most recent, “Effective Evangelism: A Theological Mandate,” was published in 1988.
McGavran, a minister in the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, held graduate and undergraduate degrees from Yale Divinity School, Butler College, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary.
A widower, he is survived by four daughters, a son, 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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