David Hummell Greer

David Hummell Greer (March 20, 1844 – May 19, 1919) was an American Protestant Episcopal bishop.

Biography

He was born in Wheeling, Virginia, (now West Virginia), graduated from Washington College (Pa.) in 1862, and studied at the Protestant Episcopal Seminary, Gambier, Ohio. Ordained a priest in 1868, he was rector successively at Covington, Kentucky (1868–1871), Providence, Rhode Island (1871–1888), and New York City at St. Bartholomew's Church, 1888–1904.

In 1903, he was elected Bishop Coadjutor for the New York diocese and in 1908 succeeded Bishop Potter upon the latter's decease. He was replaced as rector of St. Bartholomew's Church by Dr. Leighton Parks.

Bishop Greer made himself known as an untiring personal worker in his parishes and his diocese, and as a believer in direct and unceremonious relationship between clergy and laymen. In 1913, he celebrated a service for the General Convention at St. John the Divine, at which an offering of $500,000 was collected, requiring three clergymen to bring it to the altar, and all night for expert bank tellers to count the funds. The service was followed by a reception for 5,000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1914, Bishop Greer was appointed president of the Church Peace Union.

Prior to 1917, Greer caused controversy by expressing opposition to US involvement in World War I. However, after the United States entered the war, Greer endorsed the war effort as a "great crusade against tyranny and aggression".

In 1869, Greer wed Caroline Augusta Keith, with whom he had three children. David and Caroline Greer died one month apart, in May and June 1919, respectively. Following his death, the Hope Farm School in Dutchess County, New York, was renamed "Greer School".

Publications Moral Power of History (1890) From Things to God (1893) The Preacher and his Place (1895) Visions (1898)