Gene Stoltzfus

1940–2010

Gene grew up in Aurora, then a rural town in Northeast Ohio, where his parents provided leadership in a Mennonite church and his father was the pastor. He graduated in sociology from Goshen College in Indiana, earned an M.A. in South and Southeast Asian Studies from American University, and received a Master of Divinity from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries. He served as director of Christian Peacemaker Teams from its founding in 1988 until 2004.

Gene traveled to Iraq immediately before the first Gulf War in 1991 and worked with the Iraq CPT team in 2003, consulting with Muslim and Christian clerics, Iraqi human-rights leaders, families of detainees, and American administrators and soldiers. The team’s work contributed to disclosures surrounding Abu Ghraib and the worldwide movement for military forces to protect civilians.

His commitment to peacemaking was rooted in his Christian faith and his experience in Vietnam as a conscientious objector with International Voluntary Services during the U.S. military escalation. He later lived with his wife, Dorothy Friesen, in Chicago and Fort Frances, Ontario. After retiring from CPT, he traveled widely for speaking engagements, wrote regularly, and created twig furniture and jewelry. Gene passed away on March 10, 2010.

More About Gene Stoltzfus

Books by Gene Stoltzfus

Create Space for Peace: Forty Years of Peacemaking

Create Space for Peace: Forty Years of Peacemaking is a collection of articles, letters, and speeches from Gene’s journey of Christian peacemaking. This collection draws from his peacemaking experience around the world and contains stories of direct peace actions, including highlights of current political and military trends.

Gene Stoltzfus (1940–2010) was the Founding Director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams from 1988 until 2004. Profits from the sales of this book will go to Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Christian Peacemaker Teams place violence reduction teams in situations of crisis and occupation and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. They enlist the whole church in an organized non-violent alternative to war. For more information, visit: www.cpt.org.

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