Donald Coggan; Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Donald Coggan, 90, leader of the world’s Anglicans as archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980, who was also a strong proponent of women in the priesthood. Born in London, Coggan was ordained as a priest in 1935. He was appointed bishop of Bradford in 1956, archbishop of York in 1961 and archbishop of Canterbury in 1974. He was a lecturer in Semitic languages at Manchester University from 1931 to 1934, professor of New Testament at Wycliffe College in Toronto from 1937 to 1944, and principal of London College of Divinity from 1944 to 1956. Coggan was a strong supporter of the ordination of women, formally proposing it at the Lambeth Conference of the world’s Anglican churches in 1970. It was not until 1994 that the Church of England admitted women to the priesthood. Robert Runcie, Coggan’s successor as archbishop, said Coggan was “a godly preacher and pastor who did major work in Biblical scholarship and furthered the cooperation between Jewish and Christian people.” On Wednesday, at a nursing home near Winchester, England, after a long illness.