Hugh Thomson Kerr

Hugh Thomson Kerr was a Canadian-born Presbyterian minister, preacher, editor, educator, and church leader whose ministry was centered for more than three decades at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Born in Elora, Ontario, in 1871, he earned a BA from the University of Toronto in 1894 and graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh in 1897, the year he was ordained. After pastorates in Pittsburgh, Kansas, and Chicago, he returned to Pittsburgh in 1913 as pastor of Shadyside, serving there until retirement in 1946.

Kerr became prominent in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. He served as president of its Board of Christian Education from 1923 to 1941 and as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1930-1931. He chaired the committee responsible for the Presbyterian Hymnal of 1933 and was involved in work on the Book of Common Worship.

His broader legacy includes preaching, Christian education, religious broadcasting, and ecumenical worship. Shadyside Presbyterian Church credits Kerr with conceiving the movement that became World Communion Sunday, first celebrated there in 1933. His published works included sermon collections, studies of Scripture and preaching, and several hymn texts.