Memorial service for Dan Via

October 16, 2014

Dan O. Via, who taught in the religion department from 1956 to 1968, died Oct. 12, 2014, in Charlottesville, Va. He was 85.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at Saint Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville.

A native of Charlottesville, Via graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and received his Ph.D. from Duke University. In 1960, following the arrests of 10 Wake Forest students who participated in a sit-in at F.W. Woolworth in downtown Winston-Salem, Via helped pay the students’ bonds so they could be released from jail.

After leaving Wake Forest, Via taught at the University of Virginia and Duke University’s divinity school. He retired from Duke in 1991.

Via was the author of 11 books on biblical and theological topics and the editor of another 17. In 1975 he was selected by The Christian Century as one of 13 mid-career scholars to have made a significant mark on religious studies during the decade 1965-1975.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret; two sons, Dan and Carter (’83); and four grandchildren.

Obituary in The Daily Progress