Robert John Lacker

Rev. Robert John Lacker died suddenly Thursday, May 25, 2017, at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph. He was a resident of Red Bud Court, Woodland Terrace, Bridgman, Michigan. A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, June 10, 2017, at 10:00 A.M., at Zion United Church of Christ, 9100 Church St., Baroda, with Rev. Dr. Christopher Noffke officiating. Burial will follow at North Shore Memory Gardens, Hagar Shore. Friends may visit with the family on Friday, June 9, 2017, from 4:00 P.M. until 6:00 P.M. at Starks & Menchinger Chapel, 2650 Niles Rd., St. Joseph. Memorial contributions may be made to Blossomland CROP Walk. Those wishing to leave an online condolence may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com. Bob was born on June 11, 1922 in Norwood, Ohio.  He was the son of Charles Francis Lacker and Jeannette Galloway Lacker, and the husband of the late Rev. Ruth Mathews Lacker. Rev. Bob Lacker was a graduate of Norwood High School, Norwood, Ohio, and a graduate of Spartan School of Aeronautical Engineering, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  During World War II he served in the U.S. Eighth Air Force.  He earned an BA degree from Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio, where he was president of the Student Council.  He received a Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity, Rochester, NY.  He and his wife, Ruth, were ordained into the Christian ministry in 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio by the Evanston Baptist Church and the Miami Baptist Association of the American Baptist Churches in the USA.  They served churches in New York, Ohio and Michigan, and he held many positions of leadership in his denomination, including co-president (with his wife) of the American Baptist Churches of Michigan, and served for many years on the governing boards of the Ohio Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches of Michigan. Bob served on the Ministers Council of the American Baptist Churches of Michigan as vice president, treasurer, and on its Pastoral Relations Committee.  He also chaired the Commission on the Ministry, the Scholarship Committee, and the Historical Committee during his many years of service to the denomination. Rev. Lacker came to the Twin Cities in 1972 to be the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Benton Harbor.  Under his leadership, the church relocated to south St. Joseph and was renamed The American Baptist Church of St. Joseph.  He served the community in many ways.  Rev. Lacker chaired the North Berrien County Chaplaincy Committee and Pastoral Care Seminars at Mercy-Memorial Hospital for local clergy.  He helped organize the Luther Rice Seminary Extension School in Benton Harbor and taught in it for five years.  Rev. Lacker represented both the Berrien County Association of Churches and his denomination on the Michigan Council of Churches, and served as the Association’s chair of the Camp Warren Committee.  He also served as treasurer of the Blossomland CROP Walk for 21 years. Rev. Lacker became an active genealogist for his family and friends.  In 2012, Bob and Ruth were the recipients of the “Catching the Dream” Award given by the Southwestern Ministerial Alliance and the Berrien County Association of Churches. Bob is survived by two daughters, Margaret A. (Kenneth) Krieger, the Rev. Barbara J. (Rev. Michael) Lacker-Ware, Rochester, NY; four grandchildren, Rev. Eric (Dr. Meagan) Burton-Krieger, Heather Krieger, Jestine Ware, and Jason Ware.  He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, the Rev. Ruth Mathews Lacker in 2012, his parents, Charles F. Lacker in 1939 and Jeannette Galloway Lacker in 1970 and two brothers, Donald P. Lacker in 2012, and William R. Lacker in 2016.