The Rev. Bruce Weatherly, 85; led Trinity Church in Moorestown

The Rev. Bruce A. Weatherly, 85, rector of Trinity Church in Moorestown from 1959 until he retired in 1994, died of complications from liver cancer July 9 at his home in Charlottesville, Va.

Born in Montrose, Pa., he graduated from Wyoming Seminary, a prep school in Forty Fort, Pa., in 1942 and served in the Marine Corps from 1942 to 1946.

Canon Weatherly earned his bachelor's degree in 1947 from Yale University and his master's from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale in 1950. He was ordained a deacon in May 1950 and a priest that year in November, his niece Phoebe Meyers said.

Before he moved to Moorestown, his niece said, he served at Bethlehem, Pa., Cathedral and at Trinity Episcopal Church in Covington, Ky.

In Moorestown, his niece said, Canon Weatherly held several jobs beyond his parish, such as chairman of the Moorestown Ministerium, a group of the town's ministers, and chaplain of the Moorestown Fire Department.

Canon Weatherly also worked with the Drank Memorial Guidance Center and the biomedical ethics committee of Memorial Hospital-Burlington, both in Mount Holly, and the Mental Health Board of Burlington County, his niece said.

He served Samaritan Hospice of Interfaith Caregivers Inc. and the Youth Activities Council Advisory Board, both in Moorestown, and the Moorestown Ecumenical Neighborhood Development, she said.

He also was on the Governor's Commission on Aging, the advisory committee of the Burlington County Office of Aging, and the Citizens Committee on Biomedical Ethics of New Jersey, she said.

After moving to Charlottesville in 1999, he was the founder and first chairman of Clergy and Laity United for Justice and Peace.

Besides his niece, he is survived by his wife of 59 years, Margaret; sons John, Christopher, Mark, and Peter; a daughter, Margaret; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

A memorial is set for 4 p.m. today at the Church of Our Saviour, 1165 Rio Road East, Charlottesville, Va.