By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Rev. L. Venchael Booth in 1998 photo. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

Rev. L. Venchael Booth's deep spiritual beliefs extended well beyond the walls of the churches he served.

The Rev. Mr. Booth, the longtime minister of Zion Baptist Church in Avondale, founded the national Progressive Baptist Convention, started the first church-run home for elderly people in Cincinnati.

Always modest about his accomplishments, the Rev. Mr. Booth often said: "To God be the Glory." The Rev. Mr. Booth, a contemporary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and father of Cincinnati City Councilman Paul M. Booth, died Saturday at his daughter's home in Memphis, Tenn., after a long illness.

The former Amberley Village resident was 83.

"Preaching is something from which you cannot retire. It's a calling that continues as long as you live," The Rev. Mr. Booth told the Enquirer in March 2001.

In that vein, the Rev. Mr. Booth was still pastoring a church - Church Upon the Rock Baptist in Anderson, Ind. - at the time of his death.

"Our entire community is saddened by the passing of L. Venchael Booth,'' Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken said Sunday. "Rev. Booth was a kind and fair man, always championing the cause of equity for all. Cincinnati has lost a great man."

On Tuesday, Councilman Booth and other city officials celebrated the Rev. Mr. Booth's achievements by naming an Avondale intersection after him.

"Cincinnati and the world know my father as a great and humble man of God, but the Booth family also know him as a wonderful father and role model who, by placing God first, gave us every tool we needed to be successful in life," Councilman Booth said.

The Rev. Mr. Booth was a mentor to Cincinnati church leaders like the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., who spoke to the Rev. Mr. Booth every day for the past several years.

"He was a leader in Cincinnati at a very critical time, and he provided in every aspect,'' said the Rev. Mr. Lynch, pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Carthage. "He was a role model that I respected and I try to emulate him and the good that he did."

The Rev. Mr. Booth was named minister of Zion Baptist Church in 1952. At the time, Zion Baptist was running low-income housing units next to the church, then located on West Ninth Street in the West End.

The Rev. Mr. Booth wasn't satisfied with the quality of the housing units, so he had the building leveled.

In 1958, he became the first African-American to borrow $1 million from the First National Bank (now U.S. Bank), using the money to build two church-run housing developments in Westwood.

Eventually, the church owned five housing developments, operated in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Church people should not be housing other people in housing they would not live in," the Rev. Mr. Booth told the Enquirer in 1998.

When Zion Baptist moved to Avondale in 1961, his congregation built a new church and the neighboring 50-bed Zion Nursing Home (now Zion Care Center) - another first in the city.

In 1961, the Rev. Mr. Booth founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Its mission was to foster the civil rights movement and provide leadership, outreach and mission work for Baptist churches.

The convention was linked with groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and it helped the Rev. Dr. King gain national attention.

The Rev. Mr. Booth served as president for the Progressive National Baptist Convention from 1971 to 1974.

He also founded the Progress Association for Economic Development in 1969, an organization that was pivotal in the development of small businesses in the inner city.

In 1980, the Rev. Mr. Booth established Hamilton County State Bank. The black-controlled bank opened in Lockland and eventually operated a branch in the Avondale Town Center before it closed in 1987, when its assets were purchased by Provident Bank.

The Rev. Mr. Booth left Zion Baptist in 1984, after 32 years of service, and founded Olivet Baptist Church in Silverton.

His community activism followed him, and in 1990, he helped open Marva Collins Preparatory School, allowing the school to operate rent-free out of Olivet Baptist's basement. The school moved to Roselawn in 1993.

Born in Covington County, Miss., the Rev. Mr. Booth began preaching at 17. By age 22, he was an ordained minister.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss., in 1940, a bachelor's of divinity from Howard University School of Religion in 1943 and a master's degree from University of Chicago Divinity School in 1945.

In 1968, then-Ohio governor James Rhodes appointed the Rev. Mr. Booth to the University of Cincinnati's Board of Trustees, a position he held until 1989. He was UC's first African-American board member.

The Rev. Mr. Booth also served on the board of trustees for Central State University for four years, beginning in 1964.

From 1970 to 1975, the Rev. Mr. Booth was vice president of the Baptist World Alliance. He was a board member of the American Bible Society; a founding board member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; founder of Cincinnati Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast and of the National Prayer League.

He was former editor of The Nations Prayer Call and a former director of the Cincinnati Gospel Mission.

His wife of 51 years, Georgia Booth, died in 1993.

In addition to his son, Paul, other survivors include sons Lavaughn of Chicago and the Rev. William of Hampton, Va.; two daughters, Anna-Marie Booth of San Francisco and Dr. Georgia Leeper of Memphis; and 14 grandchildren.

Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Zion Baptist Church, 630 Glenwood Ave., Avondale. Service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the church. Burial will be in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, Clifton.

E-mail: nhamilton@enquirer.com