Dr. Scudder and student

This fund was established in 1983 to honor Professor Delton L. Scudder with a lectureship in the Department of Religion.

Delton L. Scudder was the founding chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He was born November 11, 1906, in East Hartford, CT. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan College in 1927 and was appointed by the Presbyterian Mission Board to teach English at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. He returned to the U.S. in 1931 and enrolled in the Yale Divinity School, then returned to Wesleyan University to teach after his course work was completed. Scudder earned his doctorate from Yale in 1939. In 1946, Scudder was hired by the University of Florida to create the Department of Religion. He was succeeded in the 1970s by Samuel S. Hill.

Delton was preceded in death by his wife, Inez. They had one child, Ann, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UF in 1963.

Delton L. Scudder passed away on April 28, 1995.