Russell Holdredge Hollister died on Feb. 16, 2015, at St. Paul’s Retirement Community in South Bend, Ind., where he had resided since 2008. He was 102.

He was the first of four children born to Robert Russell and Susan Holdredge Hollister in Omaha, Neb., on Sept. 5, 1912, the year of the Titanic, as he liked to say.

He was proud to be an Eagle Scout from Central High School. He graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1935. He was married in 1942 to Josephine Alford, who also graduated from Antioch (1936). They lived in Yellow Springs for 30 years, where he was employed by Morris Bean & Company in a variety of capacities. Russ was among the early leaders of local Boy Scout Troop 78, one of the first racially integrated scout troops. He was the first chair of the village human relations commission in the early 1960s, active in calming and uniting the town in the aftermath of the tear-gassing and arrest of demonstrators protesting discrimination at a local barbershop.

Russell moved to Park Forest, Ill., in 1972, where he was professor of cooperative education at Governor’s State University. He married Nancy Ryder Cox (the sister of his best friend and fellow Antiochian Ted Cox) in 1978. They divided their time between Martha’s Vineyard and Santa Barbara, Calif. In 2004, Russell moved to South Bend, Ind., to live with his sister, Marjorie Wilson.

He came from a family of very strong women for whom he had the utmost respect. He valued family connections and throughout his life supported and kept in close touch with his extended family, making an effort to visit schools and places of employment to strengthen that connection. “Thank you, for the nice visit.”

To celebrate his life, Russell leaves three children, Susan Wasserman and her husband Robert, John Alford Hollister and wife Deborah, and Frederic Foote Hollister and wife Irene; four grandchildren, Sarah Wasserman and Brian Bassett, Veronica Irene, John Henry and John (Jack) Morris Alford Hollister; two great-grandsons Henry Holdrege Bassett and Hugh Russell Bassett and many devoted nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wives, his brothers, Barrett Hollister and Nathaniel Rogers Hollister, and his adored sister, Marjorie Hollister Wilson. Services will be private.

Memorial contributions may be directed to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second street Northeast, Washington, D.C., 20002, Amnesty International, 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001, Santa Barbara Friends Meeting, 2012 Chapala, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, sbmm@sbom.org, or any charity of choice.