Memorial service for founding Divinity School dean Friday

A celebration of life service for Dr. Michael Cogdill, founding dean of Campbell University Divinity School, will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday in Hobson Performing Arts Center on Campbell's main campus.

A time of visitation with family will follow in Butler Chapel. The Cogdill family is inviting attendees to wear purple in honor of all Divinity School students, faculty and staff.

Cogdill, who served 36 years as a leader and educator at Campbell, died last week at the age of 76. He was named dean of the Divinity School in 1995, and from the beginning, Cogdill envisioned a school that would extend Campbell's emphasis on academic excellence into graduate theological education, while building on the reputation of Campbell's professional schools for preparing students with skills to do the work on day one. He also envisioned a school that would expand on Campbell's decades of service to local churches.

Through collaboration with then Provost Jerry Wallace and Associate Dean Bruce Powers, Cogdill created the mission statement that defined the vision and ethos of the school: "to provide Christ-centered, Bible-based, and ministry-focused theological education."

Wallace, who served as Campbell's fourth president from 2003 to 2015, said Cogdill's "influence of wisdom, exciting good news and calm presence" will endure in students, churches and the university for years to come.

"He shaped the Divinity School to educate students whose education would be Bible based, Christ centered and ministry focused," said Wallace, who had known Cogdill and his wife Gail for over 50 years (Cogdill was a youth minister at Elizabethtown Baptist Church, where Wallace was pastor). "He led the campaign to fund the construction of the beautiful Butler Chapel. The chapel's presence on the university's campus is a visual reminder of Campbell's Christian purpose.

"Personally, he was like a son to me. His presence will endure in my heart."

Cogdill's obituary can be found online here.