Rev. John Krumm; Episcopal Bishop

The Right Rev. John McGill Krumm, who served as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Los Angeles during four years of major expansion after World War II, has died. He was 82.

Krumm, who was most recently an assisting bishop in the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as well as a retired bishop of Southern Ohio, died Monday in Tustin, apparently of a heart attack.

The author of several religious books and a church leader for more than half a century, Krumm had served since 1983 as bishop in residence at St. Paul’s Church in Tustin.

From 1980 until he moved to Tustin, he was bishop in charge of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, based at the American Cathedral in Paris.

A native of South Bend, Ind., Krumm grew up in Pasadena and earned degrees from UCLA, Virginia Theological Seminary and Yale University. He was ordained Dec. 24, 1938, in Los Angeles and held posts in San Mateo, Compton, Lynwood and Hawthorne as well as New Haven, Conn.

Krumm became dean of St. Paul’s in 1948, serving as a key religious spokesman in Southern California and winning election as president of the Church Federation of Los Angeles. He was an early champion of rights for homosexuals and, in later years, of compassion and assistance for victims of AIDS, repeatedly lashing out from the pulpit at “an appalling lack of humanitarian concern.”

He left the prestigious St. Paul’s post in 1952 to become chaplain and chairman of the department of religion at Columbia University, returning frequently to deliver guest sermons from the Los Angeles pulpit.

After 13 years in the Columbia position, Krumm became rector of Ascension Church in New York. He then served in the Ohio post from 1971 to 1980, supervising 80 congregations and several major institutions.

Krumm is survived by a brother, William, of Arcadia.

Requiem Eucharist is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at St. Paul’s Church, 1221 Wass St., Tustin.