Anthony Burton

The Rev. Dr. Harry S.D. Robinson, the foremost Canadian Anglican Evangelical parish priest of his generation, died of a sudden heart attack yesterday near his home on Mayne Island, British Columbia.  He was 84.  A gentle giant physically and morally, he combined a probing intuitive intelligence with an enormous love of people and focus on the Gospel task.  He was a brilliant, original and unpredictable preacher and a perceptive critic of the interplay between the Gospel and contemporary culture.  In the late 1970s, he was appointed Rector of St. John’s, Vancouver, then a moribund, complacent small congregation, and at considerable personal cost set it on the path to becoming Canada’s largest Anglican community, and one of its liveliest and most creative.  As a churchman he built bridges and encouraged friendships across the country. In his heyday, he exercised an almost unrivaled degree of personal authority.  A person of great warmth, charm and humility, he inspired and mentored countless vocations to the ordained ministry. 

Dr. Robinson’s funeral will be held at St. John’s, Vancouver next week.

UPDATE: Prof. Donald Lewis of Regent College has written a memoir here.