Dr. Jaroslav J. Pelikan, a 1946 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and well-known theologian, died of lung cancer on Saturday, May 13, 2006. He was 82 years old.

Pelikan was sterling professor of history emeritus at Yale University. Before joining the Yale faculty in 1962, he taught at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. He also was an internationally-known scholar of Christian history and medieval intellectual history, and a prolific author of essays and nearly 40 books. Among his books are the five-volume work The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine; The Riddle of Roman Catholicism; The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries;Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture; and a multivolume English edition of Martin Luther’s writings.

Pelikan is survived by his wife, Sylvia; sons, Michael and Martin; daughter, Miriam; brother, Rev. Theodore Pelikan; and three grandchildren.