A Message from the Cathedral
Dear Friends,
We have learned of the death of the Very Reverend Harry Pritchett, the eighth Dean of the Cathedral. Dean Pritchett served from 1997 until 2001. His obituary in the Tuscaloosa News, his native city, says this about his time at Saint John the Divine.
Harry arrived during a pivotal time, bringing his visionary leadership to strengthen the Cathedral’s religious, cultural, and educational programs. He revitalized the Cathedral’s Board of Trustees and implemented a bold real estate initiative to secure the institution’s financial future. His tenure left an indelible mark, earning both Harry and his wife Allison a permanent plaque in the nave commemorating their extraordinary contributions.
While Pritchett assumed the deanship in 1997, his love affair with the City and the Cathedral began long before. Years earlier as part of a long sabbatical, he spent enough time in the City to become enamored with it. Often, he made his way to Morningside Heights and, like so many people, fell in love with the Cathedral. Dean Pritchett’s time leading Saint John the Divine was, therefore, the flowering of a relationship that already had roots.
The Dean’s wife, Allison, known and beloved by many at the Cathedral, died in 2017.
The Book of Common Prayer gives us these words.
O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our brother, Harry. We thank you for giving him to us, his family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yours faithfully,
The Right Reverend Matthew Heyd
XVII Bishop of New York, Chair, Cathedral Trustees
Mr. Frank Brown
President, Cathedral Trustees
The Very Reverend Patrick Malloy
XI Dean