[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 97 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. W. HAZAIAH WILLIAMS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 12, 1999

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Dr. W. Hazaiah 
Williams, a great man of many talents who passed away from 
complications of diabetes April 24, 1999. Dr. Williams' accomplishments 
were considerable.
  Dr. Williams brought to the Bay Area some of the world's leading 
artists, including Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, Dorothy Maynor, 
Veronica Tyler, Theresa Berganza, Sherrill Milnes, Grace Bumbry, Jean-
Phillippe Collard, Cyprien Katsaris, Grant Johannesen, Leon Bates, 
Tatayana Nikolaeva, Natalie Hinderas among hundreds of others.
  William Hazaiah Williams Jr., was born in Columbus, Ohio, on May 14, 
1930, and was the youngest of six children born to the Rev. W. Hazaiah 
Williams, Sr., and Cora Leon Williams. The Williams family moved to 
Detroit when William Hazaiah Williams, Jr., was 11 years old. He 
attended Adrian College in Adrian, MI, and received a Bachelor of Arts 
degree from Wayne State University School of Theology in Detroit, MI, 
and a Master of Theology degree from Boston University's School of 
Theology in Boston, MA. Dr. Williams did postgraduate work in Sociology 
at the University of California at Berkeley, and received two honorary 
Doctorate of Divinity degrees, one from the Pacific School of Religion 
and the other from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, both 
located in Berkeley, CA.
  Dr. Williams founded the Church For Today in Berkeley, CA, in 1956, 
the church in which he was active as the pastor until his death. Dr. 
Williams formed the Center for Urban-Black Studies at the Graduate 
Theological Union in 1969, where he served as the president, in 
addition to his service as a full professor for 20 years. He also 
taught at the San Francisco Theological Seminary and at the College of 
San Mateo, CA, and was the founder and president of the Alamo Black 
Clergy, an East Bay, California, consortium of ministers of various 
denominations. Dr. Williams led civil rights causes in the San 
Francisco Bay Area and served as Executive Director of the East Bay 
Conference on Race, Religion, and Social Justice. His community work 
also included eight years of service on the Berkeley Board of 
Education, during the period in which the Berkeley schools were 
integrated.
  Dr. Williams lectured extensively at colleges, universities, and 
institutions throughout the United States, among them: the California 
Institute of Technology, Howard University, Stanford University, 
Vanderbilt University, University of Oklahoma, Lewis and Clark College, 
Beloit College, St. Procopius College, Georgia Technological 
University, University of Washington, Merritt College, Evergreen State 
College, University of Santa Clara, Claremont College, San Francisco 
Theological Seminary, American Baptist Seminary of the West, 
Interdenominational Theological Center, Gammon Theological Seminary, 
and the Pacific School of Religion. He delivered keynote addresses at 
conferences on racism for the National Protestant Episcopal Church, the 
United Church of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
Mission. In the mid-1970s, he was a delegate to the World Council of 
Churches' Symposium on Black and Liberation Theology in Geneva, 
Switzerland.
  In addition to religion and civil rights, Dr. Williams was profoundly 
devoted to music. Dr. Williams taught himself piano at the age of 
three, and held his first public performance at the age of five. Later, 
he studied piano at the Detroit Institute of Musical Art, the Detroit 
Conservatory of Music, and Detroit's Robert Nolan School of Music. At 
age 15, he was Concert Manager of the Robert Nolan Chorale. While in 
college in Adrian, MI, he hosted a musical program on local radio.
  In 1958, Dr. Williams founded Today's Artists Concerts. For over 
three decades, this organization presented an annual concert series in 
the Bay Area, as well as concerts in New York, Paris, and Haifa, 
Israel. In 1981, he established the annual Yachats Music Festival in 
Oregon. In 1993, Dr. Williams created Four Seasons Concerts, of which 
he was the President and Artistic Director until his death. Dr. 
Williams served on the Board of Directors of the Oakland, California 
Symphony and the Ross McKee Foundation for the Musical Arts, and was an 
honorary board member of the Chicago Sinfonietta.
  Dr. Williams leaves behind him a son, William Hazaiah III; a 
daughter-in-law, Linda Vanterpool; a granddaughter, Lauren of Elk 
Grove, CA; a daughter, Countess of Los Angeles, CA; a former wife, 
Countess of Berkeley, CA; a brother-in-law, Louis Irwin; sisters Ruth 
Williams and Naomi Sharp; brother William James Williams; and sister-
in-law Rubye Williams of Detroit, MI; nephews Frederick Cornell Sharp 
of Southfield, MI, and Michael Hazaiah Williams of Detroit, MI; the 
members of the Church For Today; and the staff of Four Seasons 
Concerts. While Dr. Williams is sorely missed here, we honor and 
celebrate his legacy.

                          ____________________