Stanley Rader

Stanley Rader,
former church treasurer,
dies of cancer at 71

RADER.jpg (61662 bytes) PASADENA—Stanley Robert Rader died Tuesday morning, July 2, in Pasadena just two weeks after having been diagnosed with acute pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Rader came to public prominence in his role as general counsel and treasurer for the Worldwide Church of God. He traveled extensively with the church’s founder, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, visiting heads of state in furtherance of the church’s mission. He became a baptized member and later was ordained.

Born August 13, 1930, in White Plains, New York, Stan Rader came to California to attend UCLA, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1951 and met Natalie "Nikki" Gartenberg, his wife of 51 years. He became a certified public accountant in 1954 and attended law school at USC, graduating first in his class in 1963.

Declining offers for a Fulbright scholarship at Yale and a clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court, he stayed at USC to teach law and continue to develop his law and accounting practices. The church became an increasingly important client, until in 1968 he decided to retire from his burgeoning law practice in favor of devoting full time to making Mr. Armstrong’s visions a reality.

Mr. Rader accompanied Mr. Armstrong as he traveled throughout the world delivering the church’s message. Never a mere tourist, Rader was decorated by Emperor Hirohito of Japan, lectured at Fudan and Beijing Universities in China, and was asked by French author Remy to translate his tragic account of King Leopold III of Belgium (titled The Eighteenth Day).

His role as one of Armstrong’s closest personal advisers was a source of controversy within the church. His background in communications, law and publishing, coupled with his general business experience, made him an ideal counterpart to the visionary Armstrong.

As an example, while Armstrong envisioned Ambassador Auditorium as the crown jewel of the church’s campus in Pasadena, it was Rader who proposed sharing it with the community as a center for the performing arts. When rebuffed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Rader persuaded Carlo Maria Giulini to lead the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in an inaugural concert and then arranged for scores of top-flight talent to visit Pasadena, including Arthur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Luciano Pavarotti.

Some of Rader’s other innovations to bring the church before a wider audience included the foundation of the critically acclaimed but secular Quest/77 magazine, Everest House, a book publisher in New York, cultural centers in Jerusalem and Sri Lanka, and sponsorship of archaeological excavations in the Middle East, along with numerous other charitable endeavors.

In January 1979, the State of California placed the Worldwide Church of God in receivership over allegations of financial impropriety. Mr. Rader willingly became a lightning rod for criticism of the church (including a stint on an oft-re-aired episode of 60 Minutes), but successfully defended the church’s right to self-governance. The allegations were never proved, and the suit was later dismissed.

As the church emerged from its legal battles, Rader fulfilled his promise to assume a nonpublic role in church affairs, and he returned to a selective, private practice. His account of the receivership episode was published in his book Against the Gates of Hell. Rev. Dean M. Kelley of the National Council of Churches called the book "the seminal work on church/state relations in the 20th century."

Mr. Rader is survived by his wife, Natalie "Niki"; his sister, Joan Klein; his daughters, Janis and Carol; his son, Stephen; and five grandchildren. Memorial services took place at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 5, at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.