Arthur E. Higgins

NORTH HAVEN, CONN.—Arthur Eugene Higgins, 85, died November 18, 2007 of complications from cancer at Connecticut Hospice in Branford, Conn.

Born in Lisbon, Maine, the son of Ivory Ephraim Higgins and Elsie Marion Bowie Higgins, he graduated from Bates College in 1943. A gifted musician at an early age, he felt called instead to the ministry. He enrolled at Yale Divinity School where he met Anne Olding Hall of Fairfield, Conn., a graduate of Smith College. They were married in 1944 and lived happily together for over 63 years.

Graduating from Yale Divinity School in 1946, the couple co-pastored two parishes in upstate New York until he accepted a call to the United Church in Chester, Conn. in 1951. In 1955 he became pastor of the Congregational Church in Wilton, Conn.

During this time he and his wife purchased hilltop property in Braintree, which they, their children, and grandchildren have enjoyed for over 50 years.

He was influential within what became the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC). He was a leader in civil rights and social justice movements in Connecticut and nationally. He left the Wilton church to serve full time on the UCC Conference staff, principally working on housing and other social justice issues. Seeking greater visibility for the church’s social action work among corporations and government, he created the New Samaritan Corporation in 1971. New Samaritan and its affiliated management companies grew to become Connecticut’s largest non-profit manager of housing for the aging and families.

He served two years as the Acting Conference Minister of the UCC, before retiring in 1989. He also served for 11 years during this time on the board of directors of MacDermid, Inc., a specialty chemical company based in Waterbury, Conn., acting as a boardroom advocate for corporate social and ethical responsibility. Among other awards, in 2002 he received the Benjamin Elijah Mays Award from Bates College, his alma mater, for "distinguished service to the larger, worldwide community."

Survivors include his wife, Anne; son Bartley Richard Higgins and his wife, Charlene Liska; daughter, Lesley Hall Higgins-Biddle and husband John Higgins-Biddle; son Gerald Arthur Higgins and his wife, Kathleen McRoberts; and daughter, Ethel Anne Higgins-Harris and her husband Calvin T. Harris, Sr. He is also survived by six grandchildren: Mark Russell Biddle, Kathleen Biddle Muravnick, Emily Catherine Higgins, Molly Anne Higgins-Biddle, Adina Louise Salguero Higgins, and Richard Ely Locke Higgins; and Richard’s mother, Catherine Carr.

A memorial service will be held at the United Church on the Green in New Haven, Conn. Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to any organization working on peace and social justice issues.

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