Calvin Schofield Jr.

Calvin Onderdonk Schofield Jr. was born on 6 January 1933 in Delhi, New York, to Calvin O. Schofield Sr. and Mabel Ellen Schofield. He belonged to the Onderdonk family of New York, which had produced Henry Ustick Onderdonk, bishop of Pennsylvania, and Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk, bishop of New York, in the nineteenth century; The Living Church described him as a direct descendant of Benjamin Onderdonk.

He earned a B.A. from Hobart College in 1959 and an M.Div. from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in 1962.

Schofield was ordained to the diaconate on 30 June 1962 and to the priesthood on 31 December 1962 by Bishop Henry I. Louttit Sr. He began as curate of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, and as chaplain at Florida Presbyterian College (later Eckerd College) and St. Petersburg junior colleges. In 1964 he became vicar of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Miami, where under his leadership the congregation built its church and became a self-supporting parish. He also served as diocesan youth adviser, a regional dean, and a chaplain in the United States Navy Reserve from 1962 to 1985.

He was elected bishop coadjutor of Southeast Florida in November 1978 on the sixteenth ballot, consecrated on 23 March 1979 by Presiding Bishop John Allin, and became the second bishop of the diocese on 1 January 1980, succeeding James L. Duncan. He held the see until his retirement in 2000.

As bishop he made Southeast Florida the first Episcopal diocese with a commission for Hispanic ministry, produced Spanish Sunday school materials and introduced Spanish-language Cursillo, and welcomed Haitian congregations including St. Paul et Les Martyrs d'Haiti in Miami. In 1982 he ordained the Rev. Winnie Bolle as the diocese's first female priest and expanded the vocational diaconate. He also directed an early diocesan study of institutional racism. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992 caused enormous damage around Miami, he led reconstruction across damaged parishes, including St. Andrew's.

Nationally he served on the Executive Council, on the Standing Commission on Human Affairs and Health (which in 1985 recommended a church alcohol policy and sanctuary for undocumented migrants), on the board of General Theological Seminary, and as co-chair of the committee for the election of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. He received honorary doctorates from Hobart, Berkeley Divinity School and the University of the South.

Schofield married Elaine Marie Fullerton on 3 August 1963. They had two children, Susan and Robert, and later four grandchildren. After retiring as diocesan bishop in 2000 he continued to assist with confirmations and other episcopal duties in Southeast Florida before moving permanently to Colorado. Colleagues remembered him as approachable and wry; Bishop Peter Eaton later called him the people's bishop in spirit if not only in nickname.

Calvin Schofield died in Denver, Colorado, on 5 October 2026, at the age of 93. The Living Church reported the death on 12 October, quoting Bishop Peter Eaton of Southeast Florida. No cause of death was made public. He was survived by his wife of 63 years, Elaine, their children Susan and Robert, and four grandchildren. Funeral services were arranged for 7 November 2026 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Centennial, Colorado.

Schofield is remembered for opening Southeast Florida's Episcopal life more fully to Latino and Haitian communities, for ordaining the diocese's first woman priest, and for guiding parishes through the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. His national work on Executive Council and the election of a Presiding Bishop placed a Florida diocesan at the centre of church governance in the late twentieth century.