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Gene Stoltzfus, 1940-2010: First director for Christian Peacemaker Teams Group travels to war zones around the world to work with local peace efforts From Vietnam to Iraq, Gene Stoltzfus pursued peace in troubled lands with disarming wit and unwavering commitment. Active with a number of anti-war and human-rights groups, Mr. Stoltzfus was the first director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, which send small teams into hot spots around the world to work with indigenous peace organizations. Mr. Stoltzfus, 70, died Wednesday, March 10, of heart failure while riding his bike near his home in Ontario, said Kryss Chupp, training coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams. He had moved to Canada from Chicago not long after retiring from the group in 2004. A native of Ohio and the son of a Mennonite pastor, Mr. Stoltzfus was already a well-traveled campaigner for peace by the time he and his wife settled in Chicago around 1980. During the 1960s, he was a conscientious objector but wound up in Vietnam anyway working for peace with International Voluntary Services. A decade later, he advocated for human rights and social justice in the Philippines with a program of the Mennonite Central Committee. In Chicago, Mr. Stoltzfus was director of the Urban Life Center, an experiential study program for students from Midwestern colleges. With his wife, Dorothy Friesen, he helped start an international peace and justice group called Synapses. Friesen served as that organization's director for many years. When Christian Peacemaker Teams was formed in the latter half of the 1980s, Mr. Stoltzfus was tapped as its first director. He organized teams to travel to war-torn areas around the globe and himself spent time in the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. "Gene was very insightful," Chupp said. "He had this ability to step into a tense situation and size it up really rapidly, and then be able to cut through and get to the heart of the matter." With his full white beard and ample belly, Mr. Stoltzfus was inevitably likened to Santa Claus wherever he went, colleagues said. Doug Pritchard, Christian Peacemaker Teams' co-director, traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan with Mr. Stoltzfus in late 2001, after the bombings carried out in retaliation for the attacks of Sept. 11. "He was quite fearless, to my sense, and passionate. Quite confident we'd find others in the region who were seeking nonviolent alternatives," Pritchard said. He was also a successful recruiter for missions of peace, often employing a dry humor. "This is God calling, and it's time for you to go to Iraq," he'd tell a volunteer over the phone, said Claire Evans, delegations coordinator for the organization. "He was very positive and a real visionary," Pritchard said. "The vision he held out for was a world free of war." In addition to his wife, Mr. Stoltzfus is survived by three brothers, Glenn, Edward and Robert; and a sister, Sara Ellen Stoltzfus. Services were held. |
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