We mourn the passing of Jan Randolph and grieve with her husband, Bob.

For almost forty years Jan Randolph mentored scores of students and hundreds more through Harvard and the Brookline Church of Christ, "creating and nurturing an intellectual and Christian community" for the benefit of countless communities around the world.

Jan served as assistant to Peter Gomes, Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard where she mentored students and parishioners.

For decades Jan worked with Bob as pastor for the Brookline Church in Boston, Mass. Embodying the Christian virtues, she graciously exhibited an inclusive life that welcomed strangers with a hospitality reminiscent of the descriptors found in the parables of Jesus.

Bob and Jan created a legacy of mentoring young scholars and nurturing healthy ties between the academy and church.

Desiring to continue the trajectory of their lives and career, we recently launched the "The Robert M. and Jan Randolph Mentoring Program: Foundation of Scholars in the Tradition of the Churches of Christ or Service to the Church, Academy and the Greater Good" which mentors on a broad scale young Christian scholars from a host of academic disciplines.

We stand on their shoulders with a program meant to benefit scores of young scholars; mentoring built on qualities organic to Jan and Bob and exhibited in their productive and faithful lives.

Jan leaves behind her husband, Bob, and daughter Margaret and countless family and friends. Her daughter, Kathleen, preceded her in death.

In a prescient statement, a few years back, Bob spoke of the work that he and Jan had done:

"Mentoring takes many shapes. Sometimes it's merely being present. Sometimes it is doing what you're asked to do. Sometimes it is listening. And sometimes it is nurturing a community of conversation so that one can grow, and that's what the Brookline Church has been for many. Sometimes you serve the church, and sometimes the church serves you."

Rest in peace, dear sister.