UMHB Mourns Death of Former President Tanner

06/13/07

Dr. William G. Tanner, Sr., 19th president of Mary Hardin-Baylor, passed away Sunday, June 10, 2007, after a long illness. Dr. Tanner was president of the university from 1968 to 1971.

During his three-year presidency, he strengthened the academic and administrative structure and led the school's conversion from a women's college to a coeducational institution. In 1971, he was called to be president of Oklahoma Baptist University, where he led the school through a period of campus improvements and unprecedented enrollment growth.

In 1976, he became president of the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention, in Atlanta, Georgia. Evangelism and the establishment of churches were the emphases of his tenure there. During the ten years of his leadership, the Home Mission Board appointed 5,480 new missionaries to serve across the U.S., and it was estimated that 656,117 people were led to Christianity through their efforts.

Tanner returned to Oklahoma in 1986 to serve as executive director and treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He was successful in leading the Oklahoma convention through a difficult period brought on by the collapse of the oil economy in Oklahoma. During those years and following his retirement in 1996, he became a well-known speaker in Baptist churches, leading Bible studies and serving as the keynote speaker for numerous senior adult convocations across the nation.

As an educator, an administrator, and a preacher, Tanner was known and respected as a man of integrity and vision. His warm sense of humor won him friends wherever he went, and in his later years he served as a trusted mentor and friend to countless young ministers who sought his counsel and advice.

He received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University, a master of letters degree and an Ed.D. from the University of Houston and a Ph.D. from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ellen, and three children, William Tanner, Jr., and his wife, Paula, of Belton, Texas; Keith Tanner and his wife, Ginger, of Frisco, Texas; and Kimberly Salter and her husband, Mike, of Jackson, Mississippi. He is also survived by ten grandchildren.

Visitation will be Wednesday, June 13, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Dossman Funeral Home in Belton. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, at First Baptist Church of Belton. A private family burial will be observed at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco prior to the memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the President William G. and Ellen Yates Tanner Endowed Scholarship at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, 900 College Street, Belton, TX 76513.