Leah Gaskin Fitchue, a trailblazer in theological education, dies at age 78
As president of Payne Theological Seminary from 2003 to 2015, she was the first African American woman to lead a seminary belonging to the Association of Theological Schools.
Leah Gaskin Fitchue, former president of Payne Theological Seminary in Ohio, died June 18 at age 78. The cause of death was not made public.
She was the first African American woman to be president of a theological seminary belonging to the Association of Theological Schools and the first woman to be president of a historically black theological seminary.
An ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, with which Payne is affiliated, Fitchue served as seminary president from 2003 to 2015. Under her leadership, in 2005–2006, Payne began offering an online degree in which two-thirds of a student’s education occurred online and the remaining one-third in residence. It was the first among the six traditionally African American theological schools to offer an online degree. During her tenure, the foundations were also laid for the school’s doctor of ministry program.
