The Reverend Doctor William Lee Bradley (September 6, 1918 – April 29, 2007, born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

), was a scholar of comparative religion, ethics, and theology, as well as a philanthropist.

Early life and education

Bradley was born in Oakland to Kathryn Lee Culver, an author and artist, and Dwight Jaques Bradley, author and

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

leader. He was raised in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

Webster Groves, Missouri Webster Groves is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 22,995 at the 2010 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster University. Geography Webster Groves is located at ( ...

, and

Newton Centre, Massachusetts Newton Centre is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The main commercial center of Newton Centre is a triangular area surrounding the intersections of Beacon Street, Centre St ...

. In 1947, he married Paula Anne Elliott, later a New Hampshire State Representative (1992–98; 2000–02). He received his B.A. from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

(1941), B.D. from

Andover Newton Theological School Andover Newton Theological School (ANTS) was a graduate school and seminary in Newton, Massachusetts. Affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ. It was the product of a merger between Andover Theological ...

(1950), and Ph.D. from

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, Scotland (1949). He was a Sergeant in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1942–45), serving in the South Pacific.

Career

A fifth-generation ordained minister in the

Congregational Christian Churches The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United ...

(later merging to become the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

), he served as a professor at

Hartford Seminary The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a private theological university in Hartford, Connecticut. History Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connecti ...

from 1950 to 1966. He was a visiting professor at

Thammasat University Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

for the last three years of his tenure at Hartford. In Bangkok, he served on the field staff of

The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

and researched his ancestor, the Dr.

Dan Beach Bradley Dan Beach Bradley (18 July 1804 – 23 June 1873) was an American Protestant missionary to Siam from 1835 until his death. He is credited with numerous firsts, including, bringing the first Thai-script printing press to Siam, publishing the first T ...

, the first medical missionary to Siam and court physician to Siam's King

Mongkut Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibod ...

and his son, King

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร� ...

. After his time at Hartford, Bradley took a position at the Rockefeller Foundation as associate director for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, from 1966 to 1971, and was then President of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

from 1971 to 1984. At The Rockefeller Foundation, he was particularly proud of his work assisting emerging playwrights and theatres in the heydey of the

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

theatre movement 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 ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, assisting such emerging talents as playwrights

Julie Bovasso Julia Anne Bovasso (August 1, 1930 – September 14, 1991) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. Life and career Bovasso was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of that borough, the daughter ...

Maria Irene Fornes Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

John Guare John Guare ( ;; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of ''The House of Blue Leaves'' and ''Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman, ...

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

, Ron Whyte, and

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed."Margalit Fox, Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Wi ...

, as well as theatres such as the artistic leadership of producers such as Ellen Stewart (

La MaMa La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

Experimental Theatre Company or LaMaMa, E.T.C.),

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...

(

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

), Wyn Handman (

The American Place Theatre The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, 423 West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennesse ...

Joe Cino Joseph Cino (November 16, 1931 – April 2, 1967), was an Italian-American theatre producer. The Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement is generally credited to have begun at Cino's Caffe Cino in the West Village of Manhattan. Caffe Cino and off-off ...

(Caffe Cino), and the theatre at

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has been ...

. His theatre involvement continued in the 1980s when he served as chair of the Board of

Circle Repertory Company The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by direc ...

in New York City. As President of the Hazen Foundation, he was known for taking creative philanthropic risks by providing crucial

seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

for innovative programs and organizations that often later attracted substantial funding from larger foundations. The reach and influence of the Hazen Foundation under his leadership, therefore, was amplified well beyond the value of the grants awarded. While in Connecticut, Bradley also served on the Governor's Commissions on Human Services; Libraries; and Equity and Excellence in Education. Following his retirement from the Hazen Foundation, which he continued to serve as President Emeritus, William and Paula moved to

Randolph, New Hampshire Randolph is a heavily forested town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States, extending from the northern slopes of the White Mountains of the Presidential Range (to the south) to the Crescent Range and Berlin (to the north), with U.S. Route ...

, where both became active in that community. Bradley co-founded and served as the first editor of the ''Mountain View'', a quarterly news magazine in Randolph, served as President of the

Randolph Foundation The Randolph Foundation is a New York-based charitable foundation that first operated in 1972 as the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust. It transitioned to independence from the Smith Richardson Foundation, assuming the name of The Randolph Found ...

from 1991 to 1996, and continued his lifelong activity in

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politics on the local and statewide level.

Publications

Bradley was the author of many articles and several books, including ''P.T. Forsyth: The Man and His Work'', ''The Meaning of Christian Values Today'', ''Introduction to Comparative Religion'', and ''Siam Then: The Foreign Colony in Bangkok Before and After Anna''. He was the coauthor of ''Thailand: Domino By Default?'' He remained active in ministry throughout his career, performing weddings and funerals for several generations of friends and family in the several communities he and Paula called home. Bradley died in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

at Havenwood-Heritage Heights Health Services Center on April 29, 2007, of complications from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

References

*"Bradley, William L," ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', May 6, 2007. *"Bradley, The Rev. Dr. William Lee," ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'', May 3, 2007. *Bradley, William L., David Morell et al. ''Thailand: Domino by Default? The 1976 Coup and Implications for United States Policy with an Epilogue on the October 1977 Coup'' (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University, Southeast Asia Program, Center for International Studies, 1978). *Bradley, William L. ''Siam Then: The Foreign Colony in Bangkok Before and After Anna''. (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1981–11). (]) * *Bradley, William L. ''Introduction to Comparative Religion'' (Bangkok, Thailand: A. Intrasuksri, 1965). *Bradley, William L. ''The Meaning of Christian Values Today'' (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1964). *Bradley, William L. ''P.T. Forsyth: The Man and His Work.'' (London: Independent Press, 1952). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, William L. 1918 births 2007 deaths American Congregationalist ministers 20th-century Congregationalist ministers American religion academics American religious writers American theologians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Oberlin College alumni United Church of Christ ministers Hartford Seminary faculty Congregationalist writers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers Neurological disease deaths in New Hampshire Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American clergy

Early life and education

Career

Publications

See also

References