Reverend Dr. Samuel G. Simpson Way [2] (Bronx)
Present name:None
Location:Northeast corner of 187th Street and Tiebout Avenue
Honoree: Samuel Simpson was born in Jamaica, West Indies. He came to the United States in the early 1960s and was ordained at Brooklyn's Evergreen Baptist Church in 1963. Reverend Simpson founded and pastored Bronx Baptist Church for 45 years and Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church for 39 years. He has the distinction of having two streets in the Bronx named for him, one near each of those two churches. In addition, he was instrumental in founding several other New York churches, including Protestant Community Church in the Northern Bronx; Honeywell Baptist Chapel and New Hope Mission in Spring Valley; and Grace Baptist Chapel in the Bronx. He was often called the "Bishop of the Bronx" and helped pave the way for African-Americans to serve in Southern Baptist life. Reverend Simpson earned a Master of Professional Studies degree from New York Theological Seminary; was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School; and a Senior Common Fellow at Regents Park College of Oxford University. He served two terms as president of the Baptist Convention of New York, and was a Home Mission Board (North American Mission Board) missionary. He was also a founding member and two-term president of the Clergy Coalition of the 47th Precinct and was chairman of the Board of the Council of Churches of the City of New York. Dr. Simpson passed away in 2015 at the age of 83. (King and Torres)
LL:2018/139