Dr. Walter Harrelson, distinguished Old Testament scholar, died last week. He was 92. He was from Southport and lived there after his retirement for several years before moving into a retirement home in Winston Salem in 2004.

He was quite well known here in Wilmington because of the courses he taught at the Osher Lifelong Learning Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and occasional lectures in local churches.

Walter, the absolute definition of a scholar and a gentleman, was general editor of the New Interpreter’s Study Bible and one of the principal contributors and editors of the New Revised Standard Version. He was also instrumental in the planning and founding of Wake Forest University Divinity School.

As a footnote, when you drive through Brunswick County on U.S. Hwy. 17, you’ll see signs naming it the Thomas Harrelson highway. Tommy was Walter’s nephew.

A memorial service for Harrelson is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in Wait Chapel at Wake Forest University.

Read his full obituary here.