Jack Marcum, coordinator of Research Services for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in the new president-elect of the Religious Research Association.  His two-year term as president will begin in 2015.

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Bill Robinson, president emeritus of PC(USA)-related Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., has been named interim president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the main organization for most PC(USA)-related schools.

Robinson succeeds Edward Blews Jr., who was removed as president of the Washington, D.C.-based organization ― which represents 174 “intentionally Christ-centered institutions” ― by its board of directors after just 10 months on the job.

Robinson currently serves as chair of the board of trustees for Princeton Theological Seminary, and has written two books on leadership.

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A memorial service was held Oct. 23 at Trinity United Presbyerian Church of Indianola, Iowa for Don Hampton, 73, a key member of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s National Response Team. He died Oct. 17 at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.

Hampton received numerous accolades over the years for his extensive volunteer work. In May of this year he was named Volunteer of the Year by National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster , the largest organization of disaster relief volunteers in the country. He also received the President’s Volunteer Service Award at the May 14 event. 

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Carmen; children, Dawn (Bill), Scott (Tonya), Gret (Heather), Nancy (Craig); grandchildren, Michael (Brynn), Kelsie, Brianna, Ethan, Mike (Ashley); great-granddaughter, Emmalyn; sister, Carolyn; nephews, David, Todd, DJ and Andrew; and all the grand-puppies. He was preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Ruby Hampton; grandson, Matt; and his golden retriever, Ty.

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New York City Presbytery is mourning the loss of two of its distinguished leaders.

The Rev. Eugene S. Callender, 87, died Nov. 2. Ordained in 1952, he served as a Home Missionary in Paterson, N.J. before coming to New York to found the Mid-Harlem Community Parish. Callender served pastorates in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as the New York Urban League, the New York City Housing and Development Administration, the New York Urban Coalition and the State of New York Office for the Aging. He served two more pastorates after retiring in 1991. Memorial service arrangements are pending.

Ruling Elder Annie Rawlings, 56, died unexpectedly while vacationing in Mexico on Nov. 2. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, she founded the Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty at Fordham University before becoming executive director of A Partnership of Faith in New York City. Most recently she served the Interfaith Center of New York as its director of public outreach and program administration. For a number of years she led New York City Presbytery  into the areas of prison ministry and re-entry, police and community relations, immigration reform, Jewish-Christian dialogue, the Middle East and international witness through the PC(USA)’s Ministry at the United Nations. Rawlings’ memorial service was held Nov. 12 in James Chapel at Union Theological Seminary.

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This week marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service reporter who died of a heart attack Nov. 9, 2008 at the age of 42. Silverstein served as senior reporter for PNS for 10 distinguished years, winning numerous press awards during that time. He is missed every day.