Al Krass from Michael Krass on Vimeo.
From the BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action:
Alfred C. Krass, born in Brooklyn, NY, lived in Levittown, died at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne on October 26, 2010, from complications from pneumonia. He was 74.
Alfred was born into a Jewish family and converted to Christianity while at Amherst College. He attended Yale Divinity School, and was ordained a minister of the United Church of Christ in 1961. He spent his life in service to God and the people with and among whom he lived. A man of prayer, he had a strong passion for justice and peace, a great compassion for others, and an ever-growing understanding of all people as children of God. As he has said of himself, he began with evangelism and ended with peacemaking.
He served as a missionary in Ghana, working in church planting, community development, and literacy. Then in New York City he was the evangelism consultant for the United Church Board for World Ministries. He studied at the New School for Social Research and received an MA in sociology. In Philadelphia, he participated in Jubilee Fellowship, an ecumenical house church, was an editor of The Other Side magazine, and did community organizing with the Southwest Germantown Association and Germantown Residents Acting to Conserve Energy. He was called as full time pastor to United Christian Church in 1987 where he served until his retirement in 1999. He was the founder and first executive director of the Interfaith Housing Development Corporation. He also founded the Lower Buck Center for Church and Community, and was active in peace projects with the Metropolitan Christian Council and The Pennsylvania Southeast Conference of the UCC.
Since his retirement in 1999, he preached in various churches, worked part time for the Coalition for Peace Action in Bucks and Montgomery County, participated in the Interfaith Council for Middle East Peace, and other groups working for interfaith understanding. He also taught classes on poetry, peacemaking, and themes in American history at the Osher Lifelong Learning Center at Temple University.
Alfred’s other interests were his family, friends, sketching and watercolor, gardening, travel, cycling, swimming and cooking. He was an avid reader, had a good sense of humor, and enjoyed music, especially classical, jazz, and hymns. He was a communicator and an organizer, who knew how to move people, and to make friends, many of whom saw him as a family member. His broad, loving outlook on life meant that many sought his advice and companionship.
Alfred is survived by his wife of 48 years, Susan, his sons Thomas and Michael and his partner Anna Luten and their son Bruno. He is also survived by his older brother William Krasilovsky, and many nieces and nephews whom he loved.
