Arnold Tiemeyer, 72, a pastor and social service agency executive, died Sunday, May 31, 2009.  During his 45 years of ordained ministry, Arnold worked continuously to bridge community divisions over social and civil rights rooted in economic circumstance, race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.  

A memorial service will be held at 7 pm on Friday, June 5, at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1000 W Main Street in Lansdale.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the memorial fund at Trinity Church in Arnold's name.  Donations will be distributed to social ministries committed to Arnold's vision of an inclusive and just society.

Pastor Tiemeyer was most proud of his work to open Betak, the first AIDS hospice in Philadelphia during the early 1990s.  At his installation as President of the Lutheran Home at Germanton (LHG) social service organization, Arnold said LHG's mission was "reach out to anyone in need".  A community member attending the event challenged him to bring this promise to the AIDS community.  He remained committed to that promise throughout the significant struggles to open and manage Betak for four years.  

Betak was only one of the many social ministries advanced through Pastor Tiemeyer’s work.  As a parish pastor in the 1960s, he served communities undergoing substantial economic and social change in Chicago and Waterloo, Iowa.  As Assistant Executive Director for the Division for Missions in North America for the Lutheran Church in America from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, he oversaw the church's activities in support of social service agencies, hunger relief, and policy advocacy nationwide.  

In 1985, Pastor Tiemeyer was named President of Lutheran Home at Germantown  (LHG).  During his decade at LHG, the organization expanded its care services with special needs children, home services to older adults, and managed care consulting services across the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, constructed a new care facility at Germantown Home, and opened the Betak facility.  From 1995 to 2000, he served as the Vice President for Senior Health and Community Services for the Jefferson Healthcare System, where he worked to develop and expand community-based, preventive health services for economically challenged areas in the Philadelphia area.  

After retiring from Jefferson Healthcare, Pastor Tiemeyer served as the interim Director for Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa).  His commitment to the dignity and validity of all persons continued as a member of the East Coast panel for the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) - an organization committed to full participation of pastors in the life and ministry of the church regardless of their sexual orientations and gender identities.  In the last two years, he served as visitation pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lansdale.

Pastor Tiemeyer received a Masters of Divinity from Chicago Lutheran Seminary and both a Bachelors of Arts and an Honorary Doctorate from Wittenberg University.  He is survived by Betsy, his wife of 50 years, his three children and their spouses Mike and Nancy, Ann and Tom, and Peter and Mary, and his four grandchildren Katie, Sam, Andie and Emma.

• Philadelphia Inquirer obituary