Morris Township’s Robert Kriesat is new chair of Morris human relations commission

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By Peggy Carroll

The Rev. Robert Kriesat, a retired Lutheran minister, has been elected chairman of the Morris County Human Relations Commission for the year 2011-212. He succeeds Elaine Johnson of Kenvil, director of program and services for Homeless Solutions, Inc.,

Mr. Kriesat was installed at the annual meeting at the Haggerty Education Center at Frelinghuysen Arboretum.

Now a resident of Morris Township, Mr. Kriesat was born in Jersey City. He was educated at the Eastern Bible Institute (now Valley Forge College) and Roberts Wesleyan College and pursued graduate studies at the Hamma School of Theology at Wittenberg University and the Graduate Theological Foundation at Notre Dame, where he earned a doctor of ministry degree

POfficers of the Human Relations Commission for 2011: (L-R) Charles Lamb, vice-chair; Susan Waldman, treasurer; Elaine Johnson, immediate past chair; Denise Lanza, secretary and the Rev. Robert Kriesat, chair.
POfficers of the Human Relations Commission for 2011: (L-R) Charles Lamb, vice-chair; Susan Waldman, treasurer; Elaine Johnson, immediate past chair; Denise Lanza, secretary and the Rev. Robert Kriesat, chair.

He served four congregations in New Jersey – in West New York, Tenafly, Ridgefield Park and Chatham – retiring in 2005. For more than 30 years, he was an ecumenical officer for the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He now serves part-time as pastor of the Adventist Lutheran Church in Warren.

He and his partner of 40 years, Ed Mather, a retired dean of Bergen Community College, have lived in Convent Station for the last 24 years. Both are active in Garden State Equality; Mr. Kriesat is a vice-chair and a member of the executive committee. He also is on the Protestant Chaplaincy Committee of Morristown Medical Center and on the governing board of the New Jersey Council of Churches.

Other officers of the Human Relations Commission this year are Charles Lamb of Morristown, a director at the Morristown campus of the County College of Morris, vice-chair; Denise Lanza of Mount Arlington, assistant deputy director of the Morris County Park Commission, secretary, and Susan Waldman, of Randolph, a community volunteer, treasurer.

Joining the commission this year are Detective Yvonne Christiano of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department; Ralph Engelsman, a former mayor of Madison and chair of the Building Cross Cultural Communities of Morris Tomorrow, which is now part of the Human Relations Commission, and Emiliano Lemos of Dover, who is actively involved in the Latino community. Also serving with the Commission for this year are two high school students, Prachi Mehrotra of Parsippany Hills High School, and Kevin Xie, of Montville High School.

The Commission is composed of more than 30 members representing a cross section of the community. Its goal is to actively encourage, develop, promote and strengthen respect for human rights and cultural diversity among the people who live in Morris County.

More information is available at the commission website or by calling its bilingual line at 973-540-1009.

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