That assumption was swept away as Ferrick gained admirers. John L. Loeb ’24, who read about the chaplain’s work in a Harvard Gazette article, included an endowment of $800,000 for the Humanist chaplaincy in a $70 million donation Loeb and his wife granted the University in the early 1990s.
Ferrick handed over the Humanist chaplaincy to Epstein in 2005.
Epstein, who said that his career as a Humanist chaplain began with the role that Ferrick played for him as a mentor, added that Ferrick would be impressed with the increasing presence of humanism on campus and the diversity of religious chaplains that the University now has.
“Tom would have been shocked by the level of activity that we are having,” Epstein said.
A memorial service will be held for Ferrick on Sunday, March 2 at 1:30 p.m. at the recently opened Humanist Hub at 30 JFK St.
—Staff writer Theodore R. Delwiche can be reached at tdelwiche@college.harvard.edu.