Cecil Williams, Legendary Pastor of Glide Church, Dies at 94
Rev. Cecil Williams, the beloved social justice activist and longtime pastor of San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church, died Monday at the age of 94.
He is best known for his stewardship of the Tenderloin neighborhood church that he became pastor of in 1963 and helped develop into a world-renowned congregation and nonprofit service provider. As its leader, Williams built and oversaw multiple community outreach programs that over six decades have provided crucial support to hundreds of thousands of impoverished residents in the city.
“One very special thing about Cecil was that he met everyone where they were — literally and spiritually,” said Oakland resident Ernestine Nettles, who has volunteered at Glide for over 50 years, and first met Williams when she was a child. “If you couldn’t make it to the church to get a Thanksgiving meal, volunteers packed them up and brought them out to the streets, handing them out to everyone.”
Nettles noted that Williams “embodied the spirit of Christianity,” in not passing judgement and loving people as they are. She said he treated everyone as equals, no matter their race, age, background, economic status, sexuality, past, or present.
