Fort Worth, Texas (ABP)—C.W. Brister Jr., who taught pastoral counseling and theology to generations of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary students, died Aug. 9, reportedly of complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 82.

Brister was a professor of pastoral counseling at the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary for 45 years. He held the title of distinguished professor emeritus of pastoral ministry, and the Southwestern School of Theology gives an award named for Brister annually to the most outstanding student in pastoral ministry.

Commodore Webster Brister Jr., was born in 1926 in Pineville, La. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana College in his hometown, and went on to earn his master’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He received his doctorate from Southwestern.

Before going to teach at Southwestern, he served as pastor of churches in Louisiana and Texas.

Brister’s son, Mark, retired last year from the presidency of Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Okla.

Besides his son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons, he is survived by his wife, Gloria, and his sister, Dolores Bausum of Beloit, Wis.

Brister’s funeral was held Aug. 15 at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.