Forrest Weir; Former Pastor Headed Council of Churches

Forrest Cleburne Weir, executive director of the Southern California Council of Churches for two decades and a former chairman of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, has died. He was 91.

Weir, who lived in Pacific Palisades, died Sunday in UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital, his son, Ralph, said Thursday.

A former Congregational Church pastor who had headed the Atlanta office of the Federal Council of Churches, Weir came to Los Angeles in 1950 as executive director of the council and the Church Federation of Los Angeles. In 1962, he left the federation post.

In a message to ministers of the 21st century written for a time capsule buried in Pershing Square in 1952, Weir described his new city: “Los Angeles is a rapidly growing, dynamic community with a need for more churches than we can possibly supply. While we labor with minds focused upon our widely spread urban community, we are deeply concerned with the national unrest arising from revelation of corruption in high offices, unethical practices in college sports, a huge national debt, an undeclared war in Korea and a threat of global war with atomic weapons. We know what we do here in Los Angeles will have some meaning in the national and international scene.”

For 21 years, Weir was an appointed member and later chairman of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, which fostered equal opportunity in public and private programs. He was also an advisor to the California Department of Mental Health and active on the state’s Advisory Commission of Institutional Religion.

Weir wrote two books, “The Quest Begins” and “Religion in the Bible,” and was a visiting professor at Yale, the University of Miami and USC.

Born in Clear Springs, Ark., the eldest of 11 children of a minister, Weir left home at 14 to be an itinerant preacher. He later earned three college degrees, studying at Anderson College in Anderson, Ind., and the Yale Divinity School.

He was pastor of churches in Connecticut and for five years was pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church in Miami before going into church council administration.

Weir is survived by his wife of 67 years, Esther; two sons, Wendell of Pasadena and Ralph of Glendora, and three brothers and two sisters.

Funeral services are private. A public memorial service will be scheduled later at Westwood Hills Congregational Church, where a stained glass window will be dedicated in his honor.

The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to People Assisting the Homeless, 2346 Cotner Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064.