Lester Mondale

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The Reverend Robert Lester Mondale (May 28, 1904-August 19, 2003) was an American Unitarian minister and humanist. He was the only person to sign each of the three Humanist Manifestos of 1933, 1973 and 2003.

[edit] Biography

Mondale was born in Walnut Grove, Illinois, the son of Theodore Sigvaard Mondale, a Methodist minister and World War I hero, and elementary school teacher Claribel Cowan Mondale. He received a B.A. from Hamline University and an S.T.B. from Harvard University. Although his family was Methodist, he converted to Unitarianism He was ordained in 1929 by the New North Unitarian Church, Hingham, Massachusetts, and served congregations in Hingham,Kansas City, Missouri, Birmingham, Michigan, White Plains, New York, Tempe, Arizona and Quincy, Illinois. His younger half-brother was Walter Mondale, Vice-President of the United States between 1977 and 1981 under Jimmy Carter.

In 1933, Mondale was the youngest to sign A Humanist Manifesto and was also signatory to the 1973 Humanist Manifesto II. In 2003 aged 99 he became the oldest signature to Humanism and Its Aspirations, the only one of the original signers who lived long enough to sign all three. He died shortly afterwards.

Mondale was a member of the American Humanist Association (AHA) since its inception and received its Humanist Pioneer award in 1973 and the Humanist Founder award in 2001.