Lives of Consequence
Robert C. Rusack '47, S.T.D. '67
Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles
From 1974 until his death in 1986, Bishop Robert C. Rusack headed the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
Certain of his future since the age of nine, Bishop Rusack graduated from Hobart in three years and attended the General Theological Seminary in Cantbury, England before his ordination as deacon. He served as deacon in Western Massachusetts and later was made a priest by Bishop Daniels of Montana.
The fourth bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, he was the spiritual leader for 150 churches in six counties, ordaining priests and performing administrative and religious duties.
Bishop Rusack was a strong supporter of gay rights, the ordination of women, ministries to new immigrants in Los Angeles and people living with AIDS.
He was both beloved by his parishioners and held in high esteem by his peers in the clergy; as the Los Angeles Times wrote in his obituary, nearly "2,000 people, including 20 Episcopal bishops from around the country and clergy representing at least a dozen religions and other Protestant denominations, crowded into St. John's Episcopal Church [in Los Angeles] for a memorial service for Rusack."
As a student at the Colleges, he worked as a service assistant for William Smith College Dining. He was a member of Geneva's Trinity Church and Theta Delta Chi.
He was survived by his wife, Janice Morrison Rusack, and two children.