Minister Semrad, an education and rights advocate, dies at 78.
The Rev. David L. Semrad, a Methodist minister and community advocate known for his commitment to education and civil rights, died last week at a Houston hospital at 78.
“His voice was a clear one, strong, and San Antonio is better for his work,” said former Mayor Henry Cisneros, who worked with Semrad in the 1980s and ’90s when Semrad was involved with the COPS/METRO Alliance, a local advocacy coalition.
“He was a significant force in the evolution of the best San Antonio we’ve ever had,” Cisneros said.
Born in Enid, Okla., and growing up on a wheat farm, Semrad’s early passions were shaped by the people and natural world around him. A leader of Oklahoma 4-H, a program dedicated to teaching children and teenagers life skills and civic engagement, his affinity for guiding and motivating young people stayed with him for the rest of his life, said Staci Semrad, 49, one of his two daughters.
Semrad met Judy Rose, his future wife of 56 years, at Oklahoma State University. He earned a master’s degree in theology from Southern Methodist University and a doctor of ministry degree from St. Paul’s School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo.
He moved his family to San Antonio in 1978 to direct the United Methodist Campus Ministry, now known as the Wesley Foundation of San Antonio. Semrad served as a minister at several college campuses, but primarily at San Antonio College and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He held that job until his retirement in 2008.
“He went beyond that rural Oklahoma religious view to become a very progressive theologian,” Staci Semrad said. “He believed in going beyond oneself as a Christian to help others in the world, to help the poor and the oppressed, to help those that are economically disadvantaged. He was the kind of Christian who
prayed with his feet; he walked the talk.”
An avid follower of the news and current events, Semrad knew students on the city’s South Side were attending schools without air conditioning while students on the North Side had the latest technology and amenities, and it “broke his heart,” his daughter recalled.
“His awareness of what was going on in the community was his inspiration to effect change,” she said.
Semrad became a cochair at Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance, helped establish a women’s center at SAC in 1981, was a founding board member of Project Quest and helped found the San Antonio Education Partnership, a public-private initiative aimed at bolstering college access at high schools with high dropout rates by providing scholarships for eligible graduates beginning in 1988.
In its first two years, the partnership awarded nearly $400,000 in scholarships to about 800 students and made an immediate impact on dropout rates. It became a long-term focus of common purpose for COPS/ Metro, local chambers of commerce, school districts, colleges and universities.
“San Antonio has been changed in very positive ways in recent decades by active citizens and neighborhood leaders who insisted on more fair policies and better distribution of resources to neighborhoods, and David Semrad was one of those people,” Cisneros said. “He had a clear vision of what was right and he acted upon it.”
As a campus minister, Semrad engaged students in difficult conversations about social justice and how to understand and react to current events through the lens of their faith. His popular “hot potato” lecture series created an opportunity for students, faculty and members of the community to tackle complex topics, and he would sometimes take students on “urban plunges,” using San Antonio’s transit system.
Semrad died Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer that began last summer. He is remembered by his family as a gentle yet energetic man who was resourceful and full of love for others.
“He was so much fun to hang out with. Even everyday life was a joy to spend with my dad,” Staci Stemrad said. “You could just feel the energy.”
Semrad’s family is planning a memorial gathering at Colonial Hills United Methodist Church sometime in the late spring. He will be buried in Oklahoma.