David Otis Fuller
Files
Publisher
Cedarville University
City
Cedarville, OH
Date
May 26, 1962
Keywords
Cedarville, commencement
Recommended Citation
"David Otis Fuller" (1962). Commencement Speakers. 23.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/commencement_speakers/23
Biographical Sketch
David Otis Fuller, A.B., Th.B., D.D.
David Otis Fuller was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 20, 1903. Educated at Wheaton Academy (1921), Wheaton College (1925), and Princeton Theological Seminary (1929), Rev. Fuller was installed as pastor of Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on November 4, 1934, a position he held until 1974. In May 1936, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Evangelical Theological College (now Dallas Theological Seminary).
Dr. Fuller was one of the founders of Cornerstone University. In October 1940, he called to order the first meeting of the Committee on Organization of the Baptist Bible Institute at the Grand Rapids YWCA. The Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids, Michigan, opened its doors as an Evening School on Tuesday, January 7, 1941, with ten part-time instructors and Dr. Fuller presiding as the Executive Council president. He transitioned to board chairman with the arrival of new president Norman H. Douty for the opening of the Day School in Fall 1944. With encouragement from Dr. Fuller, Wealthy Street Baptist Church permitted the Baptist Bible Institute to use its facilities rent-free, an arrangement that continued for more than two decades until the school moved to its own campus in Fall 1964.
Dr. Fuller took a leave of absence in 1945 to serve as a Navy Chaplain for one and one-half years at the close of World War II, returning to the board as vice-chairman (1947-49) and chairman (1949-53), after which time he concluded his service on the board. Dr. Fuller was a member of the boards of Wheaton College, Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, Children’s Bible Hour, Spurgeon Bible College, Grand Rapids Baptist Academy, the Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, and Hospital Chaplaincy. He served on the Council of Fourteen of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
Preacher, author, editor, soul-winner, apologist, administrator, and defender of the Bible, David Otis Fuller went home to his Lord and Savior on February 21, 1988, at eighty-four years of age.