Harold Barrett Robinson (June 14, 1922 - May 5, 1994) was bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Western New York The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming in western New York. I ...

from 1970 to 1988, and served as an assisting bishop in the

Episcopal Diocese of New York The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing three New York City boroughs and seven New York state counties.

from 1989 to 1993.

Biography

Robinson was born in 1922 in

Nelson, Lancashire Nelson is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 29,135 in 2011. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Burnley and 2.5 miles southwest of Colne. It developed as a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. he came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as an infant United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He became an American citizen in 1945. In 1943, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

in 1946 from the

General Theological Seminary The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Communi ...

. He was ordained deacon in June 1946 and served as assistant in St Paul's Church in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. He was ordained priest on December 16, 1946, by Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens of Los Angeles in St Paul's Church. He then served as rector of the same church St Paul's Church in San Diego until 1962 when he became Dean of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. In October 1967, Robinson was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Western New York and was consecrated on February 24, 1968, in St Joseph's Cathedral, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Buffalo. He succeeded as diocesan bishop in June 1970. On June 4, 1977, he ordained the first three female priests of the diocese, the Reverends Judith Burrows, Sarah Reith and Patricia Bird. He also helped incorporate the new revised 1979 prayer book which was used throughout the whole diocese by 1987. He retired as Bishop of Western New York in 1988 and served as Assisting Bishop of New York from 1989 to 1993. He died due to Leukemia on May 5, 1994, at the Overlook Hospital in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United Sta ...

. He was survived by his wife Marie and four daughters.

References

New York Times Obituary
1922 births 1994 deaths People from Nelson, Lancashire General Theological Seminary alumni 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of Western New York 20th-century American clergy {{US-Anglican-bishop-stub