Russell C Hurd

Russell C. Hurd of Copley, Ohio, passed away on July 9th, 2023. Russ was born in Warren, Ohio, in 1945 to Herbert E. Hurd, Sr. and Eloise Cain Hurd. He grew up in Kent and graduated from Kent State University School (1962), Oberlin College (B.A., 1966), Chicago Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1969), Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. (D.Min., 1979), and Kent State University (Ph.D., 1996).
Russ was a United Methodist pastor from 1969-1990, serving local churches in Bridgeport, Ohio; Milton, Delaware; Hubbard, Ohio; and Hudson, Ohio. He resigned from ministry in 1990, entered graduate school in educational psychology at Kent State and began part-time teaching at Kent’s Stark and Tuscarawas Campuses in 1991. He retired as a tenured assistant professor at the Stark Campus in 2008, and continued teaching part-time there until 2013. In his Ph.D. studies and teaching, he blended his two professional careers into the research he conducted on childhood bereavement experiences. Russ enjoyed teaching, academic advising, research using Q methodology, and his service as coordinator of the Department of Education at the Stark Campus from 2000-2008.
Russ treasured traveling with his wife Pat to many places in the world (usually where one of their four children and nine grandchildren lived), playing Scrabble and cribbage, and solving New York Times crossword puzzles in the original Beacon Journal. Russ had a long association with the Beacon Journal that began at age 7, when he delivered dailies and Sundays to about 50 customers in his Kent neighborhood for about three years. He loved bicycling on the Towpath Trail, and teaching his grandkids how to fish. He especially enjoyed eating meals, reading, and napping on the screened-in porch at home. He was a member of the Bath Church (UCC). He was a proud liberal Democrat and voted in every primary, special, and general election.

His parents and his brothers, Jack and Ken preceded him in death. Surviving him are his wife of 32 years, Patricia; his sons and their families: Peter Hurd (Kim Perlow) and their sons, Henry and Alexander of London, England; Andrew Hurd (Simrin Singh) and their son, Aman of Colombo, Sri Lanka and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, respectively; his step-daughters, Kristin McDonald (Tom) of Fayetteville, Arkansas and their children, Justin (Maggie), Meghan (Rick Bennett), and Mitchell (Sarah); and Susan Miller of Twinsburg and her daughters, Stefanie (Evan Finley), Jordan (Breon Price) and Lauren Miller. He is also survived by his siblings, Herbert (Lorna) Hurd of Fort Mill, SC, Jack’s widow, Alice Hurd of Twin Lakes, Nancy (Charles) Doremus of Grand River, Linda (Larry) Harvey of Acworth, GA, and Ken’s widow, Chari Hurd of Akron, along with three great-grandchildren (Ivy, Aria, Ella) and a host of wonderful nieces and nephews and their children as well as Pat’s three sisters and their families.

A memorial to celebrate his life will be held at the Bath Church (UCC), 3980 W Bath Road, Akron, on Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 1:00pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Office of Development, Kent State University, Box 5190, Kent, OH 44242 (earmarked for the Herbert E. and Eloise C. Hurd Endowed Scholarship) or to the Annual Fund, Office of Development, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074. \

Services in care of The Billow Funeral Homes & Crematory, Fairlawn Chapel 85 N Miller Road  Akron, OH  44333.