Fred Lamar

William Fred Lamar Jr (born c. 1933 in Birmingham; died January 13, 2010 in St Petersburg, Florida) was a methodist minister and college professor who actively supported student missionaries in the developing world.

Lamar graduated from the University of Alabama before joining the Army where he trained as an intelligence specialist. He continued his education at the Eden Theological Seminary in St Louis, Missouri. He became a chaplain at the University of Missouri before returning to Alabama as a minister. After publishing a tract critical of the Ku Klux Klan he was forced to leave the state. He accepted a teaching position at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. His first foray into student mission was a 1976 trip to assist members of the Houma tribe in western Louisiana, still recovering from the effects of 1974's Hurricane Carmen.

Beginning the next year, Lamar established a popular "Winter in Mission" program which brought students to numerous countries to assist with aid, development and evangelical work. He retired in 1997 and moved to St Petersburg, Florida, but continued to sponsor student missionary trips. Lamar died in 2010 from skin cancer.

References

• Meacham, Andrew (January 17, 2010) "Missionary work of St. Petersburg reverend forever changed students." St Petersburg Times