Michael Wenning | |
---|---|
Senior pastor of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church | |
In office 1995–2001 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Michael Heeley Wenning July 5, 1935 Cape Town, South Africa |
Died | June 28, 2011 Mission Viejo, California, U.S. | (aged 75)
Spouse(s) | Freda Wenning (1957-2011; his death) [1] |
Dr. Michael Heeley Wenning (July 5, 1935 – June 28, 2011) was a South African-born American Presbyterian minister. He served as the senior pastor at the Bel Air Presbyterian Church from 1995 to 2001. [2] He gained national prominence when conducting President Ronald Reagan's state funeral. [3]
Wenning was born in Cape Town. [4] He was educated at Texas Christian University ( Master of Divinity) in Fort Worth, Texas, and New York University (master's in both psychology and counseling).
From 1969 to 1977, he was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Durban, South Africa. [2] In 1977 he returned to the United States where he worked for the next three decades as a pastor in various Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations. [3] He served as the senior pastor at the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, more than nine years, between January 1977 and August 1986. [5]
He was notably the senior pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church from 1995 to 2001. There he developed a close relationship with church members Ronald and Nancy Reagan. [4] He notably conducted President Reagan's interment service on June 7, 2004, following the latter's death and state funeral. [3]
Wenning died in 2011, at age 75, at his home in Mission Viejo, California, from kidney failure resulting from leukemia. [4] He is survived by his wife Freda and his two daughters. [4]