Calvin Malefyt ’46

We mourn the passing of Dr. Calvin S. de Waal Malefyt on February 3, 2021 a resident of Cypress Glen retirement center in Greenville, N.C.

He leaves behind a deep impact on family, friends and colleagues as an engaged pastor, mentor, and spiritual leader. His legacy for helping others is profound. Dr. Malefyt was born, June 16, 1925, in Alexandria Bay NY. He served churches in Chapel Hill Reformed Church; University Reformed Church in Ann Arbor, MI; Clarkstown Reformed Church in West Nyack, NY; and Park Street Church in Boston. He was selected as Protestant Chaplain to the English-speaking diplomatic congregations in Moscow, USSR, and Warsaw, Poland.

He has also served on a number of denominational boards. He was past president of Carolina Meadows community, a retirement center in Chapel Hill, and editor for the Harvard Theological review at Harvard Divinity School. He graduated from Hope College (B.A.), Westminster Theological seminary (M. Div.), and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He was awarded a postdoctoral Merrill Fellowship at Harvard, and an Earhart Fellowship as Senior Consultant at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a “think tank” in Washington, DC.

As a Staley Distinguished Christian scholar, he has lectured on over 50 college and university campuses across the country.

He was married to and survived two wives, Louise Lohr and Eleanor Hartman. He is survived by three children: Linde Barrett, and her children, Kiefer and Elyse (and her children, Thomas and Anastasia); Timothy de Waal Malefyt and his children, Emily, Paul and Matthew; and Elise Mclean and her daughter, Sophia; as well as two step-children, Tammy Perdue and her children, Meredith Perdue Davis (Bobby), Lauren Perdue Britt (Johnathan), and Phillip Sunderland Perdue lll, and Lynn Mosby and her children, Hannah Mosby O’Brien (Luc), Anderson West Mosby, Hope Lin Mosby.