The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor and powerbroker, died on Friday at home in New York City. He was 73. His son Calvin O. Butts IV, says the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
For more than 30 years, Butts was senior pastor at Harlem's legendary Abyssinian Baptist Church, a more than 200-year-old institution founded in 1808, which itself was a center of Harlem's spiritual and political life. Butts inherited the pulpit from a long line of charismatic ministers, including Adam Clayton Powell Sr., his son Adam Jr., and Samuel Proctor. The church was declared a New York City landmark in 1993.
