GEORGE BENEDICT GROSE, 86, of Winfield, Kansas, died a Christian on July 16, 2013. He was surrounded by family and friends at Cumbernauld Village.

Services are scheduled for 10:00 A.M., Saturday, July 20, 2013 at the First Presbyterian Church, 1101 Millington, Winfield, Kansas. Burial will follow at Highland Cemetery. A memorial reception is planned from 12:30-1:30 at the First Presbyterian Church.

Born on August 12, 1926 in Newton, Massachusetts, he was the son of the late Rev. Dr. Wilbur and Jeanette Grose of Minnesota.

He married Elinor Ruth Emi Uyeno on October 19, 1951 in Boston. To this union four children were born, Heidi, Mary, John and Nina. The couple first resided in Boston, and then moved to Long Beach, California where Grose was the associate minister, First Methodist Church (1952-1955). They moved to Massachusetts when be became the pastor of The Annisquam Village Church (1955-1957). From 1957-1970 he was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church, Plattsburgh, New York. Now a family, the Groses moved to California where he was the chaplain of Whittier College from 1970-1974. He served as president of The Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies from 1977-1994 in Anaheim, and from 1994-2008 at the University Religious Conference at UCLA. After retiring from the ministry, he founded and taught a now permanent upper division seminar at UCLA, Abrahamic Religions: Traditions in Tension.. He retired from teaching in 2007. In 2008 he received the Charles Doak Award of the University Religious Conference at UCLA for founding the seminar. In January 2013, the Board of the Academy of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies unanimously adopted a resolution "to commend, in writing, the contributions made by Reverend Dr. George Grose to the establishment of a course in the Abrahamic traditions at UCLA." The couple made Winfield, Kansas their home since 2008 and attended the First Presbyterian Church.

He received his bachelor of arts degree in political sciences in 1949 from Duke University. In 1952, he earned his STB (Master of Divinity) from the Boston University School of Theology. He did post-graduate work at Harvard University Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary and was made Merrill Fellow at Harvard in 1966. He earned his Doctor of Ministry in 1976 from the School of Theology at Claremont, California. He authored Sermons Preached in a Seaport Town, is co-editor of The Abraham Connection: a Jew, Christian and Muslim in Dialogue, and has edited and contributed to other writings and essays. In 1971 he arranged the first Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue in America while chaplain of Whittier College. Since then he has moderated and served on numerous dialogues throughout the world including at the Asssembly of the World Council of Churches and the Abraham Symposium in Sanliurfa, Turkey co-sponsored by the Society of Jesus at the Vatican, Cairo, and Jerusalem. As past president of the academy, he continued to mentor and consult his Jewish, Christian and Muslim colleagues and students until he died.

His family includes daughter Heidi Hill and husband Clark of Cedar Vale, KS; daughter Mary Grose and husband Jeffrey Skoblow of Edwardsville, IL; son, John Grose and wife Elizabeth Baker of Richmond, CA; daughter, Nina Senn and husband William of Oakland, CA: brother Charles Grose and wife Patricia of Shakapee, MN; grandchildren: Hanamori Skoblow, Sean Senn, and Katerina Senn; step-grandchildren Deborah Hill, Dianna Puahala and husband Jonathan, Clark Hill, Jr. and wife Maura and Doreen Bouchard and husband Frank; step-great-grandchildren; Joshua and Mele Bouchard, Jeremiah Hill, Jordan Puahala, Hunter and Clark Hill, III; and numerous nephews. He was preceded in death by his beloved Elinor and his parents.

Memorials may be made to the Cumbernauld Village or to "Academy of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies" with "In memory or George Grose" in the memo line to help endow the course he founded. Contributions may be made through the funeral home.