Hudson T. Armerding, CBMW Board of Reference member, dies at 91

Hudson Taylor Armerding, former president of Wheaton College who died Tuesday at age 91, was a member of the Board of Reference for The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He had a long and noted career as an evangelical scholar and author. Below is an abbreviated version of his biography taken from information on Wheaton’s website.

The oldest of five children, Armerding was born in 1918, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his father was engaged in itinerant Bible-teaching ministry among the Plymouth Brethren in the area. Converted at a young age, Armerding wrote that his conversion "resulted from the reading of a Sunday School paper. In this paper was the story of a young man who went to a gospel meeting and filled out a decision card. The paper had a facsimile of the card. I cut it out, completed it, and pinned it to the curtain by my bed. Then I told Mother that if Satan came that night, he would realize that I was a Christian."

In the fall of 1935 the Armerding family sailed for New Zealand, where Carl had again established an itinerant ministry among the Brethren Assemblies. It was here that Armerding stayed until he returned to the United States to attend Wheaton College. In the fall of 1937, while living with relatives in Oak Park, Illinois, Hudson began his freshman year. Armerding participated in many extra-curricular activities while enrolled at Wheaton and eventually graduated with honors in 1941. After serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy, Armderding completed received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Asian history in 1948. He served on faculty at both Gordon College and Wheaton before being named provost at Wheaton in 1962. He was elected president in 1965 and served in that office with great distinction until 1982. The college underwent significant growth during Armerding’s administration.