The King’s College Mourns Passing of Dr. Howard Vos

With great sadness The King’s College received news that Dr. Howard Vos, Professor Emeritus of History and Archaeology, passed away on Sunday, April 7. He was honored with a graveside funeral service in the late morning on Friday, April 12, at the Toppitzer Funeral Home in Drexel Hill, Pa.

Dr. Vos was acclaimed in the world and loved at King’s as a man of extensive learning and experience, a prolific author, a brilliant teacher, and a devoted follower of Christ. He received his B.A. at Wheaton College; both his M.A. and his Ph.D. at Northwestern University; and a Th.M. and Th.D. at Dallas Theological Seminary. Zondervan credits him with “a distinguished career as an expert in historical, geographical, biblical, and archeological research.” He served as professor of history and archaeology at The King’s College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. from 1971 to 1995, teaching Western Civilization and many higher-level history classes. When King’s reopened in the Empire State Building, he came out of his retirement to continue teaching in an adjunct role, making the commute from Philadelphia. Before King’s, he also taught at Trinity College and Moody Bible Institute. He published many books, twenty-five of which are standards in their field, including Beginnings in Bible Geography, Can I Trust the Bible, Genesis, and Galatians in the Everyman’s Bible Commentary Series, and co-authored the Wycliffe Encyclopedia. He traveled extensively in the lands of the Bible, leading tours for King’s students and excavating many sites in Israel, which added to his deep and thorough knowledge of his subject. After moving to Philadelphia, he became associated with the Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is not uncommon for alumni to rate his classes among the best they took at King’s. Rick Veit (’83), now a lawyer, says, “I am still using his scholarly advice and writing techniques thirty years later.”

Despite his considerable accomplishments, it was not merely for his mind and experience that Dr. Vos was so well-loved. He was warm and caring; available with just the right help during times of doubt; present and involved in campus life; brilliant and devout; kind and full of integrity. “What I remember most about him,” says Veit, “was his ability to make long-term commitments to others and his loyalty to those he loved and cared for.” After Dr. Vos’s wife Emmagene was hit by an NJ Transit bus following their move to Philadelphia, she spent the rest of her life in a continuing care facility—where he visited her every day, in all weathers, even after he gave up his driver’s license, until she passed away. He also showed similar loyalty to others. Veit says, “One of the last times I spoke to him several years ago, he told me he had prayed for me every day, for over 30 years! I often wonder what effect his prayers had on my life, which I may never know about until I am with him in Heaven. I am still emotional when I think about the loving generosity of this fine Christian man.”

David Jay Webber (’84), history major at King’s and now pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Ariz., also found in Dr. Vos a lifelong friend. “He was one of the most productive scholars I have even known, with a vast and deep knowledge of so many things, and an insatiable curiosity always to learn more,” Webber says. “In those respects he had few if any true peers. For Dr. Vos, his desire to learn and to teach—whether in classroom lectures or in writing—was always imbued with a devotional spirit. His scholarship was always in the service of learning more, and helping others to learn more, about the Bible as God’s Word, about the Biblical worldview, and about the history of the church as evaluated in the light of the norming authority of the Bible.”

Rick Millham (’90) says, “There are people in every organization who are foundational—who exude the very essence of the organization and commit themselves wholly to its success—and Dr. Vos was one of those people. The impact Dr. Vos had on the Kingdom of God through his service to TKC cannot be measured. As an alumni community we are grateful for all Dr. Vos did to enrich each of our lives.”

Memories of Dr. Vos may be shared on the memorial page set up by his family, and condolences may be sent online via www.arlingtoncemetery.us. In addition, Lee Pelletier (’76) has set up a public Facebook group where friends and former students of Dr. Vos may share their photos and memories.