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 Methodist minister and World War I hero Theodore Sigvaard Mondale and Jessie Alice Larson^[1]^[2]. Although his family was Methodist, he converted to Unitarianism while earning his B.A. from Hamline University. In 1926 Mondale entered the Unitarian ministry and in 1929 he earned an S.T.B. from Harvard Divinity School. He was ordained by the New North Unitarian Church, Hingham, Massachusetts, and went on to serve congregations in 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 under Jimmy Carter.

In 1933, Mondale was the youngest to sign A Humanist Manifesto and was also signatory to the 1973 Humanist Manifesto II. At age 99, he was the oldest to sign to the 2003 Humanism and Its Aspirations and was the only signatory to all three documents. 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.