Roger Louis Dudley

Roger passed away at the age of 92 on September 15, 2023 at Courtyard of Centerville. He had moved to Centerville to be near his daughter July 1, 2020 but had lived in Berrien Springs, Michigan for the past 46 years. Roger was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1931. Preceded in death by his wife Margaret Dorothy Goronzy Dudley, his parents, George Dudley Sr. and Hazel Donachy Dudley, his brother, George Dudley Jr. He is survived by a daughter, Cheryl (Hans) Zwart, a Grandson Chad Cotta, and a great grandson Oliver Cotta, three Nieces, Pat Dudley Agrillo, Lynne Dudley Klimchok, and Heidi Dudley. He also had an adopted Chinese daughter, WenGuo (Dan) Edmans.

Dudley graduated from Union Springs Academy in New York State in 1949 and was awarded a B.A. in religion and history from Columbia Union College in Tacoma Park, Maryland (now Washington Adventist University) four years later. He has received two degrees from Andrews University —The M.A. in Education in 1959 and the Ed.D in Counseling and Educational Psychology in 1977. His dissertation was entitled: “Selected Variables related to Alienation from Religion as Perceived by Students Attending Seventh-day Adventist Academies in the United States.”

Dudley served as a teacher, school principal, pastor, youth- ministries director, and superintendent of education in several eastern states. From 1971-1973 he was principal of Mount Vernon Academy in Ohio. He was also Bible teacher and director of counseling and guidance services at Thunderbird Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona and Georgia-Cumberland Academy in Calhoun, Georgia. He joined the Andrews University Seminary Faculty in January 1980.

Dr. Dudley served as the Director of the Institute of Church Ministry and Emeritus Professor of Christian Ministry at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. Before officially retiring in 2000, he taught courses in Research Methods, Marriage and Family, Youth Ministry, Church Leadership, Pastoral Counseling, Religious Education, and Religion and Society. He continued on a half-time basis as director of the Institute of Church Ministry until 2013. He is the author, co-author, or editor of fifteen books,, including: Why Teenagers Reject Religion and What to Do about it: Married and Glad of It: The Sure Way to a Happy Marriage, When Teenagers Cry Help: How to Counsel Effectively: Adventures in Church Growth: A Resource Guide for Introductory Statistics: Passing on the Torch: How to Convey Religious Values to Young People: The World Love it or Leave it? The World of The Adventist Teenager: Plant a church, Reap a Harvest: Valuegenesis: Faith in the Balance. Citizens of Two Worlds: Religion and Politics among American Seventh-day Adventists. Issues: the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Certain Private Ministries: Why Our Teenagers Leave the Church: Maximum Marriage: The Complex Religion of Teens, and Ministering with Millennials. In addition, he has had over one hundred and seventy articles published in scholarly, professional or general readership journals: has directed the preparation of more than seventy-five unpublished research studies and has presented fifty-eight papers at professional meetings.

Dudley was a member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Religious Research Association and has presented papers at twenty-nine annual joint meetings of the societies. He served as Vice President for Publications of the Association of Adventist Family Professionals for five years. He served as a board member of the Andrews University Center for College Faith and also served as the liaison with the University Press and the General Conference Department of Education for the publication of its integration of faith and learning book series. He served as an invited member of the North American Division Executive Committee for twenty-five years.

Dudley was chosen as a recipient of the Annual Research/ Creative Activity Award by Andrews University in 1993, 1995, and 2000. He served as President of the Andrews University chapter Of Phi Kappa Phi, the National Honor Society for interdisciplinary scholarship for the 1999-2000 school year. In August of 2008, Andrews University awarded him with the J.N. Andrews Medallion for Lifetime service to Adventist education. In 2018 he was presented with a Festschrift written by 24 scholars to honor his 40 years as a pioneer of Seventh-day Adventist Human- Subject Research. For more that 12 years he served as a volunteer, answering questions for the bibleinfo.com web ministry of the Voice of Prophecy.

Dudley was married for 68 years to the former Margaret (Peggy) Goronzy. The Dudleys often worked together in conducting Maximum Marriage Seminars and Grow Groups in giving presentations and holding workshops on various areas of family living and interpersonal relationships. They also did research and published various articles and two books together. For this work they were presented the Arthur and Maud Spaulding Award for Distinguished Service in Family Ministries by the General Conference in 1994, the Outstanding Research/Publication Award by the Michigan College Personnel Association in 1995, and the Distinguished Service Award by the Family Ministries Department of the North American Division in 1999 and in 2018.

Their favorite recreational activity was travel to visit new and exciting places. This was often done as part of their work responsibilities, but many trips were personal vacations. They have been to all seven continents, including Antarctica twice, and sixty-one different countries.

The Dudleys will have a joint memorial celebration on Saturday, October 21 at 4pm in the Pioneer Memorial Church, Berrien Springs, Michigan.