David W. Preus

Preus was born on May 28, 1922, in Madison, Wisconsin. He grew up in Decorah, Iowa, where his father was a pastor and professor at Luther College. His mother was a musician. He attended college at Luther College, graduating in 1943. After college he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence until 1946. He learned Japanese during duty in the Philippines and in Japan. After his military service, Preus enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School for a year. He then enrolled in Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was ordained in 1951. == Career ==

Preus served as a pastor for 25 years at various congregations. His first pastorate was in Brookings, South Dakota, where he married Ann Margaret Overgaard Madsen in 1951. He later served a congregation in Vermillion, South Dakota, and at University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the 1960s, he served on the Minneapolis School Board, including two years as its chairman. He also served on the Minneapolis City Planning Commission, and other civic organizations. Discussions during his tenure led to the merger of the ALC, the Lutheran Church in America, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the ELCA on January 1, 1988. While ALC president, he also served as vice president of the Lutheran World Federation and as a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. == Death ==

Preus died on July 23, 2021, in Minneapolis. His funeral and interment service took place on August 1, 2021, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Laporte, Minnesota. == Works ==