Calvin O. Butts
| Calvin O. Butts | |
|---|---|
| President of the State University of New York at Old Westbury | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Calvin Otis Butts III 1949 (age 67–68) Bridgeport, Connecticut United States |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Butts |
| Alma mater |
Morehouse College Union Theological Seminary Drew University |
| Profession | Pastor |
Calvin O. Butts III (born July 19, 1949) is the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, President of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and Chairman and founder of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, an engine for $500 million in housing and commercial development in Harlem.
Calvin Otis Butts III was born on July 19, 1949, in Bridgeport, Connecticut; his father Calvin Otis Butts II was a cook and his mother worked in the welfare department. When Calvin was young, the family moved to Queens, New York, where he attended public schools through high school. He graduated from Flushing High School where he was elected President of the Senior Class of 1967. During the summers, his parents sent him to his grandmothers' homes in rural Georgia.
Butts attended undergraduate college in the South, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. While a student at Morehouse, a historically black college (HBCU), Butts was initiated into the Pi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity; and a current member of the New York Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.
He returned to New York, where he earned a Master of Divinity Degree in Church History from Union Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in Church and Public Policy from Drew University in New Jersey.
Butts is one of a generation of highly educated, activist ministers in the Black church who have been active in civil rights, social justice and economic development in New York. He was recruited as a youth minister to Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1972, after which he rose within the church. Since being called as senior pastor, he has led a large and influential congregation in Harlem with a history of community leadership. There he founded the Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) in 1989, an arm of the church that has contributed to community development of schools and commercial facilities, as well as housing.
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