Heart Attack Fells Rusack
Episcopal News Service. July 24, 1986 [86159]
LOS ANGELES (DPS, July 24) -- Bishop Robert C. Rusack of Los Angeles, chief pastor of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles since 1974, died July 16 at his home in Pacific Palisades after suffering a heart attack. He was 60 years old.
Rusack had been a supporter of women's ordination, liturgical renewal and civil rights for homosexuals. He had also encouraged the development of ministries to new immigrants and other ethnic minorities.
He was the fourth bishop of the six-county Los Angeles Diocese, spiritual leader of 138,196 Episcopalians in 150 parishes.
Rusack was to have appeared at a press conference in here July 21 launching an interfaith clergy council established to help victims of AIDS, said a diocesan spokesman. A statement the bishop had written, read at the press conference, said, "Gay people must hear through the words and deeds of the Church that they, too, are children of God. AIDS may turn out to be a momentary passing epidemic, or it may be a plague... It must not, however, become an excuse to unleash another wave of irrational hostility on the gay population of our world."
"Bob Rusack gave of himself in such a manner that one knew always that he was living in the Presence of God, and his life was motivated out of the Lord's Grace," said Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning. "To a tremendous diocese of both size and quality, he gave leadership to its diverse nature that truly inspired the servanthood ministry in all. His inspiration and leadership extended beyond his own diocese to reach many, not only nationally but to parts of the Anglican Communion. The quality of his own family life and the love and support that was held among him, Janice and their children, Jeff and Becca, was always beautiful to behold. For his life and ministry, as well as for his friendship, I give thanks to Almighty God."
Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, issued a statement on Rusack's death, saying he was "a bishop of unbounded enthusiasm for the Christian faith and especially that people should see its crucial relevance to everyday life."
Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles said of his Episcopal colleague, "I shall miss him personally as a friend, as a co-worker here among God's people and as an effective church leader within the total southern California community."
Rusack was elected suffragan (assistant) bishop of the Los Angeles diocese in 1964. In 1972, he was elected to succeed diocesan Bishop Francis Eric Bloy. He assumed leadership of the diocese in 1964 when Bloy retired.
A native of Worcester, Mass., Rusack was educated at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., Jeneral Theological Seminary in New York City and St. Augustine's College in Canterbury, England, where he studied at the central theological center of the Anglican Communion.
At the time of his death, he was chairman of the board of trustees of General Seminary.
He is survived by his wife, Janice; a daughter, Rebecca Waycott, of Caracas, Venezuela; and a son, Geoffrey, of Pacific Palisades.
The diocese -- which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and part of Riverside County -- will be led by suffragan Bishop Oliver Garver and a standing committee of clergy and laity in the diocese until a successor is elected.