Kenneth H. Pearsall (1918 – 1999) was an American ordained minister and academic administrator who served as the 8th president of Northwest Nazarene University from 1973 to 1983.

Early life and education

Ken Pearsall was born 1918 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of Hazel and Nelson D. Pearsall. He received his

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

education at the Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. He later received honorary

doctor of divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degrees from ENC and the

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over 1,000 students. The college's alumni include eight Rhode ...

.Twelfth Presidential Inauguration at Northwest Nazarene University

Career

Pearsall was ordained in 1946 by the Metro New York District Church of the Nazarene and pastored in New York before joining the administration of alma mater Eastern Nazarene.Pearsall Obituary
/ref> He then left to pastor churches in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

before his election as District Superintendent of the Albany District Church of the Nazarene in 1962. He was elected District Superintendent of the New England District Church of the Nazarene in 1968 and president of the Northwest Nazarene College (NNC) in 1973. It was under Pearsall that

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s were first offered at NNC.

Personal life

He retired in 1984 and lived in Nampa, Idaho until his death in 1999 at the age of 81. In 2016, Pearsall's son, Joel Pearsall, was selected to serve as the 13th president of Northwest Nazarene University.

Notes and references

1918 births 1999 deaths Eastern Nazarene College alumni Presidents of Northwest Nazarene University American members of the Church of the Nazarene Educators from New York City People from New York City People from Nampa, Idaho 20th-century Methodists {{US-Christian-clergy-stub