George W.M. Thompson Jr., church founder, senior pastor, and philosophy professor at East Stroudsburg, has died at 90

George W.M. Thompson Jr., 90, of Philadelphia, founder and former senior pastor of New Horizon Baptist Church, longtime associate philosophy professor at East Stroudsburg University, author, and mentor, died Friday, July 29, of failure to thrive at Ambler Extended Care Center.

Rev. Thompson founded New Horizon in Philadelphia in May 1981 and served as its moral compass and senior pastor until his retirement in 2008. Devoted to family and community outreach as well as religious education, he invited other congregations to worship at New Horizon, and his sermons often addressed issues and concerns that affected his listeners in their daily lives.

“He catered to others before he ever thought of himself,” said longtime friend and caregiver Geraldine Bryant. “He did so much. It was my great pleasure to know him.”

Rev. Thompson served earlier at churches in West Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio, and, from 1975 to 1981, at Providence Baptist Church in Germantown. Organized, focused, and determined throughout his life, he established the Providence Baptist Federal Credit Union, and, at both Providence and New Horizon, created a Saturday school for young congregants, constructed a food bank, and provided a 24-hour spiritual telephone hotline.

He also married couples in his East Mount Airy home and founded and financed the George W. Thompson Jr. Foundation and Scholarship Fund that recognized students for their significant achievements and academic progress. For creating the foundation, he was honored with a 2000 Martin Luther King Jr. Award from East Stroudsburg.

In an online tribute, his family said Rev. Thompson consistently “offered a multidimensional program to minister to the whole person and raised their consciousness about the adverse conditions of people in their mission fields while responding to them.” He was, a friend said in an online tribute, “a gentleman, scholar and philanthropist. He valued education, morals and values.”

Rev. Thompson began teaching philosophy at East Stroudsburg in 1972, celebrated 35 years in the classroom in 2007, and retired as a “humble man of integrity with a great sense of humor,” a former student said. Later, he served the Ohio Board of Regents as a consultant and evaluator of the master’s and doctoral programs for accreditation in religion and theological studies for the state’s colleges, universities, and seminaries.

“As a young college student, he inspired me to think reflectively and critically about myself, my relationship to God, and my participation within the human family,” a former student said in an online tribute. “His life was a testament to his scholarship, theology, and compassion for the most vulnerable.”

A visiting professor and guest lecturer at Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, and Harvard and Fordham Universities, Rev. Thompson published Technology and Human Fulfillment, an examination of the connection between religion and technical science, in 1985. East Stroudsburg awards the annual Dr. George Thompson Jr. Award in his honor to recognize “exceptional accomplishments or life achievements in areas of community and human relations.”

Born Oct. 12, 1931, in Richmond, Va., Rev. Thompson was the son of a pastor. A curious, studious youth who often preferred reading over play, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Virginia Union University, a master’s degree in divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, and a doctorate in philosophical ethics at the University of Chicago.

He also received an honorary doctorate of divinity from Martha’s Vineyard Theological Seminary in Massachusetts in 1994 for “contributions to multicultural theological education and pastoral leadership.” He met Sarah Walden at the Sharon Baptist Church in Richmond, and they married and had daughter Sarita. His wife and daughter died earlier.

Rev. Thompson and his family moved to Philadelphia in the early 1970s, and he kept an apartment in East Stroudsburg during the school year. He was an avid reader, sought out intellectual conversations with those around him, and organized family reunions.

“He was so committed to everyone coming to the reunions that he would collect their receipts and pay all the expenses,” said his niece, Chalmer Thompson. His nephew, Guy Thompson, said: “He could be serious and passionate on a topic and then show his lighter side with a joke.”

Rev. Thompson was a longtime caregiver to his daughter, brother, and grandmother, and traveled often to visit family in Virginia and Florida. He had heart surgery in the early 1990s.

“He loved people,” his nephew said, “and was very giving of his time.”

In addition to his niece and nephew, Rev. Thompson is survived by a sister, two brothers, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.

Services were Aug. 19.