Daniel Bennett Mcgee

Professor Daniel Bennett McGee November 27, 1933 April 19, 2014 Daniel Bennett McGee, Professor and Melton Endowed Chair emeritus of religion at Baylor University and member of Seventh & James Baptist Church, died Saturday, April 19, 2014 at Providence Hospice in Waco. A public memorial service will be 11:30 a.m., April 25, at Seventh & James Baptist Church, and visitation will be 5:00 7:00 p.m., Thursday, April 24, at Seventh & James Baptist Church. Dr. McGee was born November 27, 1933, the first son of Bennett Tom McGee and Lucy Fagg McGee of Anderson County, South Carolina. A 1956 graduate of Furman University, he was a summer missionary to Jamaica, college debater, and president of the South Carolina Baptist Student Union. His alma mater awarded him the Richard Furman Baptist Heritage Award in 2004. He received the Bachelor and Master of Divinity degrees from Southeastern Seminary. In 1966, he was awarded the Ph.D. in theology with a major in Christian ethics from Duke University. While in North Carolina, he taught at Meredith College and Southeastern Seminary, and was ordained as deacon of Watt Street Baptist Church of Durham, North Carolina. In the fall of 1966, Dr. McGee began a 40-year career as a professor of theological ethics in the religion department at Baylor University. He taught thousands of students at Baylor, and advised the doctoral and masters' theses of many who themselves now serve around the world in academic, public and religious life. He received both the student-selected and University-given "best teacher" awards. In 2005, Baylor awarded him the Herbert H. Reynolds award for exemplary service, which included serving as the Chair of Baylor's Faculty Senate, its representative to Baptist World Alliance, chair of the committees that created Baylor's Institute for Environmental Studies and Baylor's program in medical humanities, on the university review board, and as director of graduate studies in religion. In 2002 Ambassador and Mrs. Lyndon Olson Jr. established the Daniel B. McGee Lectureship in religious studies at Baylor. Dr. McGee was a member of the national board of directors of the American Academy of Religion and president of the Baylor and the Texas AAR conference. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Educators of America award in 1970. He was chairman of the Board of Directors for Seeds, a Christian magazine about world hunger, and N.A.A.C.P. representative to the Waco Independent School District in its consolidation negotiations. Member of Seventh and James Baptist Church since 1966, Dr. McGee served as deacon, teacher of young singles and career class, church moderator and chairman of pulpit committee. For many years he served also as interim pastor of Edgefield Baptist Church. He is survived by his wife, Merolyn Still McGee, whom he married in 1956 in Barnwell, South Carolina, by brother Alden Arthur McGee of Anderson, South Carolina; son, Glenn Edwards McGee and wife, Summer, of New Haven, Connecticut; daughter, Caroline McGee Jones and husband, William Elton Trey Jones III, of San Antonio; and grandchildren, Aidan Bennett McGee, Austin James McGee, Bennett Alexander Jones, Ethan Baker McGee, and Margaret Kay Jones. If you wish to commemorate his life in the form of gift, the family requests that gifts in his honor be directed to the Baylor University Department of Religion or to Seventh & James Baptist Church of Waco. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WHBfamily.com.