Carl Browne Jr., 61, pastor, chaplain

Lynne Rogers met the Rev. Carl A. Browne Jr. in the late 1990s, when he was director of Christian education at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Oaklyn.

"He was gifted at relating to the youth in the church," Rogers said.

"And when I became principal at the Urban Promise Academy in Camden," in August 2000, she said, "he came once a month to do a chapel service and the kids just loved him."

And so, "in the summer of 2008, he enthusiastically joined Pastor Carol Book and me in our quest to begin a high school."

That fall, Christus Academy opened in the Cramer Hill neighborhood of Camden, with Rogers as principal, Book as executive director, and - since then - Pastor Browne as president of its board of education.

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, Pastor Browne, 61, of Willingboro, died of complications from diabetes at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro.

The academy, an outgrowth of Christus Lutheran Church in Cramer Hill, has graduated three classes, said Rogers, now a Latin and literature teacher and financial secretary there.

"His leadership and relationship with the students - he was the mentor - and his excitement about the school will be greatly missed," she said.

"He was a wonderful pastor," said Tracie L. Bartholomew, bishop for the 172 congregations in the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Noting that most recently he had been a prison chaplain, Bartholomew said that Pastor Browne was "advocating for people whom others might consider underdogs or on the margins.

"He had a real heart for people, able to relate to people of every life circumstance. He will be deeply missed in our church and in the larger community."

Since September 2014, Pastor Browne had been chaplain at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown.

From July 2010, he was senior chaplain at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown, while serving as president of the New Jersey Institutional Chaplains' Association.

His wife, Dianne, said that he chose prison work because "he had ministered to a lot of people in need, so this made sense."

And she said, "We had a lot of good times over the 42 years of our marriage."

After serving as an Army chaplain's assistant from 1972 to 1985, he earned a bachelor's in business at the State University of New York at Albany in 1989 and a master of divinity at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1991.

He was pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in East Orange from 1991 to 1994 and day services manager at St. John's Hospice in Center City from 1998 to 2004.

At St. John's he "provided counseling, spiritual and educational guidance, and life skills to homeless men," according to Pastor Browne's resumé.

"He gave the best advice to everyone," said Joanne Soden, who knew Pastor Browne when he was Christian education director at St. Mark's from 1996 to 2008.

Soden taught confirmation classes with him, and one of his students was her granddaughter, Becca Rohena, now 22.

"He changed her life, just by his advice," said Soden, who added, "He taught her how to fish - in the front yard of his home."

Besides his wife, Pastor Browne is survived by his mother, the Rev. Mercedes Browne; son, Lightning Yumeku; a sister; and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service was set for 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 409 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn, to be followed by a life celebration.

Donations may be sent to www.elca.org/resources/elca-malaria-campaign.

Condolences may be offered at www.mayfuneralhomes.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

610-313-8134 @WNaedele