Journalist and Lutheran theologian Uwe Siemon-Netto dies at 88
Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto speaks on Concordia’s campus in 2018.
Photo credit: April Bayer
By The Sower Staff
Uwe Siemon-Netto, a journalist, Lutheran lay theologian, and friend of Concordia, passed away on Aug. 29 at age 88. Siemon-Netto spoke on Concordia’s campus several times, including a visit in 2018 where he talked to students about ethical journalism and the importance of voting.
Born in 1936 in Leipzig, Germany, he worked as a journalist, editor, and foreign news correspondent with publications including Associated Press and United Press International.
Siemon-Netto began his theological studies at age 50, earning a master’s degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, a doctorate in theology and the sociology of religion from Boston University, and an honorary doctorate from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
From 2005-2009, he was a scholar in residence at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and director of the Concordia Seminary Institute on Lay Vocation, which was renamed the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life in 2007. The institute moved to California in 2009 and later became absorbed into the 1517 The Legacy Project, with Siemon-Netto as distinguished senior fellow.
Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20, at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Laguna Woods, California.
