Edgar Newman Jackson

The Reverend Edgar Newman Jackson, D.D. was born July 8, 1910, the son of the Rev. Edgar S. and Abbie (Newman) Jackson in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In 1932 he graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University where he later also received his doctorate of Divinity. He continued his studies at Drew University, Union, Yale (BD & MDiv), Columbia, the Postgraduate Center for Psychotherapy, and Oxford University. In 1934, he married Estelle Miller. They had three children, Edgar Duval Jackson
(1935-1936), James Ward Jackson (1938-1972) and Lois E. Jackson of Corinth,
VT.

Dr. Jackson was a member of the New York East, and New York conferences of the United Methodist Church and, for 50 years, served parishes in Centerport &
Mamaroneck, New York; New Haven, Thomaston, Winstead, & Bridgeport,
Connecticut; and Chelsea, Bethel, Rochester, East Barnard, St. Johnsbury, Thetford, Rutland, Fairlee, & Randolph, Vermont. After his retirement from the active ministry in 1964, he was a visiting professor at The University of Minnesota, St. John's University, The New England Institute, and served as a consultant in crisis psychology at the Walter Reed Medical School. Nominated by members of the Dartmouth Medical School Faculty, he was chosen as an Outstanding Educator of 1972. He has lectured at colleges, universities, and medical schools, as well as professional conferences and seminars throughout the United States and abroad. He was included in "Who's Who In The East" and "Who's Who In Education". In 1979 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New England Institute of Applied Sciences in Boston, MA.

He served as a Chaplain in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and immediately following the war served on the Secretariat of the Vatican working in the distribution of relief supplies in Italy. Since that time he has continued to serve as a Technical Advisor to the Air Force, lecturing to chaplain's groups and assisting in the development of crisis management techniques.

Dr. Jackson, who has been called "the outstanding authority of our time on crisis
management", authored more than 40 books on personal and group counseling.
His pioneering work, "Understanding Grief", published in 1957 and considered a classic in its field, laid the groundwork for the current approaches to grief and grief management. In this and many of his 45 succeeding books including;
"Understanding Loneliness", "Understanding Prayer", "Coping with the Crises in Your Life", "Counseling the Dying", "You & your Grief", "Your Health and You", "Though We Suffer", and "Telling A Child About Death"", his basic concern was to interpret the research of the personality sciences for use by members of the care-taking professions.

He was also the author of "Green Mountain Hero", an historical novel about the early history of Vermont recently republished by New England Press.

Dr. Jackson has served as a member of several national organizations in the care-taking professions. He has been a consultant for national committees such as the National Cancer Institute, National Funeral Director's Association, National Planned Parenthood, and the National Council of Churches. His early work with Dame Cecily Saunders of Great Britain helped to establish the Hospice movement in this country.

He was a healer. Through individual and group counseling and laying on of hands, he performed healing interventions in thousands of cases throughout the world.

A stroke suffered in 1983 curtailed his travel and lecture activities, but he continued to write, authoring "Understanding Health", "Conquering Disability", and an autobiography, and to host conferences in his home through 1991. He died at home in Corinth Corner VT in 1994.