Martin Lehfeldt

Martin Lehfeldt was born in New York City, raised in Camden, New Jersey, and attended Quaker institutions from Moorestown Friends School through Haverford College. Strongly encouraged to follow his grandfather and father into the Lutheran ministry despite a desire to become a journalist, he earned a Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in New York-but then "self-defrocked" in the mid-1960s. The opportunity to direct a program that recruited and placed outstanding young faculty...See more

Martin Lehfeldt was born in New York City, raised in Camden, New Jersey, and attended Quaker institutions from Moorestown Friends School through Haverford College. Strongly encouraged to follow his grandfather and father into the Lutheran ministry despite a desire to become a journalist, he earned a Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in New York-but then "self-defrocked" in the mid-1960s. The opportunity to direct a program that recruited and placed outstanding young faculty members at historically Black colleges throughout the South gave him a unique perspective on that region, and lured him to Atlanta. What was intended to be a brief sojourn blossomed into a career as a college development officer, a fund-raising consultant, and President of the Southeastern Council of Foundations. During five decades as a "naturalized" Southerner traveling widely in the region, he has become known as a speaker and author whose books include "The Sacred Call," "Notes from a Non-Profitable Life," and (with Jamil Zainaldin) "The Liberating Promise of Philanthropy." See less