Rev. Dr. Quentin F. Wesselschmidt, emeritus professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, entered his eternal rest on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. He was laid to rest following a memorial service at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary on Tuesday, May 18, 2010.

“Quentin was a faithful servant of Christ and a fine colleague,” Dr. James Voelz, dean of the faculty, commented. “His knowledge of the early church fathers was massive, and his service to the Seminary and to world Lutheranism through a quarter century of editorial leadership of the Concordia Journal was exemplary. We will miss him.”

Quentin F. Wesselschmidt was born February 3, 1937, in Washington, Mo., to Raenhard H. and Thelma Hartge Wesselschmidt. Quentin received his early education at St. Paul’s College in Concordia, Mo. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1959 from Concordia Senior College; a master of divinity degree in 1963 from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; a master of arts degree in 1969 from Marquette University; and the doctor of philosophy degree in 1979 from the University of Iowa.

In August 1963 Quentin was ordained and accepted his first call into parish ministry at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, Ill. In November of that year he wed Susan E. Susanka. In 1965 he was called to serve in the classroom as assistant professor at Concordia College, Milwaukee until 1971. He then became an instructor in religion and an administrative assistant at Milwaukee Lutheran High School from 1974-77, along with stints as a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa and as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. In 1977 he was called to the Concordia Seminary faculty, where he taught in the area of historical theology, including 14 years as chairman of that department.

In addition to his teaching expertise in the area of early church history, Quentin guided and oversaw Concordia Journal as chairman of the editorial committee for 25 years. With Dr. Wesselschmidt at the helm, Concordia Journal published more than 400 articles and 1,200 book reviews—a grand total in excess of 10,000 pages. He exercised this leadership with competence, consistent diligence, Christian humility, attention to detail, and cordial collegiality.

Quentin maintained membership in the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, the American Philological Association, and the North American Patristic Association. Also he recently made a weighty contribution to early church exegesis and homiletics by editing the volume on Psalms 51–150 in The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.

Quentin was admired by his colleagues, students, and friends for his humility, his collegiality, and the substance of his teaching. He is dearly loved by his family—wife Susan, brother Raenhard and wife Norma, and sister-in-law Joan Schif—and nieces and nephews, friends, colleagues, and students, all of whom give thanks to God for the blessing of his life.