BY The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bishop Nelson M. Burroughs, former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, died of natural causes Saturday in Boston. He was 99.
Bishop Burroughs played an active role in the Episcopal community even after his retirement, said the Very Rev. Richard O. Harig, interim dean at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati.
"He was a great pastor, and a dear, dear friend," the Very Rev. Mr. Harig said.
Next weekend, members of Christ Church Cathedral will celebrate the Boar's Head Festival, a presentation Bishop Burroughs started, depicting an old English Christmas. In Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral, the presentation is known as the Yule Log Festival. He started the custom there during his years as bishop of the Ohio diocese.
A native of Bridgeport, Conn., Bishop Burroughs was the rector of Christ Church, now known as Christ Church Cathedral, from 1939 to 1949. He was a key planner of a new structure for the church completed after his term.
Bishop Burroughs was ordained in 1925 and served at churches in Syracuse, N.Y. and Troy, N.Y. as well as Cincinnati. In 1949, he was elected bishop coadjutor of the
Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, based in Cleveland. He was named bishop of the diocese in 1952 and retired from the post in 1968.
He served for six years as president of the Fifth Province, which includes 13 Episcopal dioceses in five Midwestern states. He was also a member of the executive council and administrative body of the Episcopal Church. He also served as vice president of the Council of Churches of Greater Cincinnati.
Bishop Burroughs was a deputy for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church as a member of the Diocesan Council and the standing committee of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. He also served as a trustee of the Church Pension Fund in New York City and at the Berkeley Episcopal Divinity School at Yale University.
Upon his retirement, Bishop Burroughs moved to Chatham, Mass., where he lived until 1994, when he relocated to the Riverwoods Retirement Center in Exeter, N.H.
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ann (Nancy) Cluett Burroughs of Exeter, N.H.; two daughters, Anita B. Fahy of Center Ossipee, N.H., and Margaret G. Burroughs of Chatham, Mass.; a son, Timothy R. Burroughs of New York City; and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Christopher's Church, Chatham, Mass.
