TGN Remembers Bishop Robert Deas

Bishop Robert J. Deas Sr., pastor of Greater Emmanuel Temple on Richmond Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y. died Tuesday (April 2, 2002) in Sisters Hospital after a sudden illness. He was 68. The Williamsville resident had led the church for the past 20 years. Born in Hattiesburg, Miss., he attended William Carey Christian College in Hattiesburg and Pentecostal Bible College in Tuskegee, Ala., where he received an honorary doctoral degree. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1961. Mr. Deas was a board member of the International Foreign Missions of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and was an adviser to the Brotherhood Auxiliary of the New York State and Ontario District Council. He was a district elder in Mississippi from 1967 to 1982, when he became a district elder in New York State. Mr. Deas established the annual citywide tent crusades at Greater Emmanuel Temple and established a branch of Aenon Bible School at his church. He received the Outstanding Minister of the City of Buffalo Award in 1987 and was given keys to the cities of Hattiesburg and Tuskegee during the 1980s in recognition of his work. Survivors include his wife, the former Geraldine Ford-Williams; two daughters, Evangelist Roshelle D. Roberson and Cynthia Mitchell, both of Buffalo; four sons, Elder Robert J. Jr. of Austin, Texas, and Gregory D., Minster Gerrard and Minister Walter P., all of Buffalo; and a brother, Marvin Robinson of Hattiesburg; 15 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.