Theodore Pitcairn the son of PPG Industries founder John Pitcairn, was a clergyman, theologian, philanthropist, and connoisseur of the arts and antiquities.
14 Facts About Theodore Pitcairn
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Theodore Pitcairn spent his early school years in the Bryn Athyn parish schools of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, which follows the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
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Theodore Pitcairn received his high school diploma from the Academy of the New Church Boys College in 1913.
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Theodore Pitcairn graduated in June 1918 with a Bachelor of Theology degree.
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Theodore Pitcairn served as Pastor of the Durban Society in Natal, South Africa, and later as Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.
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Theodore Pitcairn taught art history, history of education, and a course on the "Human Organic" at the Academy College.
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In 1939, Theodore Pitcairn established a non-profit corporation for the purposes of promoting and maintaining the new church.
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Theodore Pitcairn served as pastor of the Philadelphia Society of The Lord's New Church until 1960, when leadership of the church passed to Philip N Odhner.
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Theodore Pitcairn wrote several doctrinal works, including The Book Sealed with Seven Seals ; The Seven Days of Creation ; and My Lord and My God: Essays on Modern Religion, the Bible and Emanuel Swedenborg.
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In 1969 the church published The Beginning and Development of Doctrine in the New Church by Theodore Pitcairn, bound together with Notes on the Development of Doctrine in the Church by Philip N Odhner.
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Theodore Pitcairn acquired paintings by El Greco, Claude Monet, Rembrandt, and Vincent van Gogh.
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Theodore Pitcairn subsequently met Marijke, the subject of the painting, and they were married in 1926.
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Theodore Pitcairn was a major benefactor of the Philadelphia Orchestra during the time Eugene Ormandy served as conductor.
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Theodore Pitcairn died at his home in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania on December 17,1973.