Edsel A. Ammons
17 February 1924 - 24 December 2010
Bishop: 1976-1984
Bishop Edsel A. Ammons
Bishop Ammons was born on February 17, 1924 the son of noted jazz pianist Albert Ammons and his wife Lila of Chicago. The Bishop was a professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary when he became one of the first African American bishops selected to the episcopacy in 1976. He served the Michigan Area until 1984. He then served as bishop of the West Ohio Area until his retirement in 1992. It was after serving in World War II that the Bishop was initially ordained a deacon and elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In 1957 he transferred to the Methodist Church's Rock River (now Northern Illinois) Annual (regional) Conference. Ammons was president of the Board of Discipleship from 1980 to 1984. He also served the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries as chairperson of the Health and Welfare Program Department from 1988 to 1992. He was also a member of the Black Methodists for Church Renewal, the denomination's black causes, since its start in 1968. Bishop Ammons died on Friday December 24, 2010 in Evanston, Ill., after a lengthy illness. He was 86 years old. He is survived by his wife Helen Fannings Ammons and children Edsel Jr., Carol, Kenneth, Carlton and Lila. He is preceded in death by his daughter Marilyn and his wife of almost 40 years, June B. Ammons, who died in 1990.
- Detroit Annual Conference minutes of 2011, p. 289
Appointments
- 1976: elected to the Episcopacy
- 1976-1984: Bishop, Michigan Area
- 1984-1992: Bishop, West Ohio Area
- 1992-2010: retired