William Sterling Cary dies at 94
(Courtesy of the National Council of Churches)
William Sterling Cary, a pioneering minister and civil rights activist who was the first Black person in prominent church leadership roles, including president of the National Council of Churches, has died, according to family members. He was 94.
Cary died November 14 at his suburban Chicago home following heart failure stemming from a long illness, his daughter Yvonne Cary Carter said.
Born in 1927 in New Jersey, Cary showed a knack for leadership at a young age and was ordained as a teenager. He attended Atlanta’s Morehouse College, where he served as student body president from 1948 to 1949, according to the school.
