alter Merrill Starks, 83, the first African American to establish and direct a major department of the General Conference, at his home in Waldorf, Maryland, on April 4.

Born 1917 in Columbus, Georgia, Walter attended Oakwood Academy and College, Columbia Union College, Morehouse College, and Andrews University. He began his ministry in 1941 in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference as a pastor-evangelist. One year later he married his college sweetheart Dorothy Alice Nickerson.

When Regional Conferences were organized, Walter was called to pastoral ministry in the South Atlantic Conference where he served from 1946-1954 before becoming director of lay activities.

In 1957 Walter began ministry in the Allegheny Conference, serving a pastor of the Glenville Adventist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and later the Dupont Park Adventist Church in Washington D.C. In 1965 he organized a department of stewardship for the conference.

When Allegheny Conference divided into two conferences in 1966, Walter was elected president of Allegheny West Conference. Again his tenure was shortened when Robert Pierson, General Conference president, called him to organize and direct a department of stewardship at the General Conference.

Within seven years, most of the world division and and many unions and conferences had elected stewardship directors, says Harold Lee, Columbia Union Conference president who preached Stark's eulogy.

"His scripturally-based, grace-centered, approach to stewardship preaching with plain, practical methods of presenting the philosophy and principles of stewardship earned him the appellation around the world Church as �Mr. Stewardship,'" Lee comments.

For Walter, as he often quipped when conducting a stewardship training seminar, "There is only one ship! Stewardship�get on board." His longest ministry was as the director of the General Conference Stewardship Department where he made his greatest contribution to the Adventist Church. There is produced scores of manuals, seminars, tracts, leaflets, and other training materials.

Walter served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 40 years, including 13 years as General Conference stewardship director. He retired in 1981.

Along with his love for stewardship, Walter was also an avid writer. He penned more than 100 songs, poems, Christmas cards, and his autobiography Ordeal by Fire: What God and Perseverance Can Do.

Walter is survived by his wife Dorothy; three daughters, Irene, Peggy, and Elaine; two sons, John and David; and two sisters, Jessie and Louise.

LLUMC ICU Named Among top 100 in Nation
A study released by the Solucient Leadership Institute on March 15 named Loma Linda University Medical Center as having one of the top intensive care units in the nation.

LLUMC was named as part of the teaching hospitals listing, and was the only medical center from California to be listed in that category. "Many �report cards' exist today in the marketplace and we are excited to be included in the 100 Top Hospitals: ICU Benchmarks for Success," states Gerald A. Ellis, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Loma Linda University Medical Center. "This particular group uses empirical, publicly available performance data to identify hospitals that excel in their clinical practices, operations, and financial management. The administrative team is evaluating the methodology used in this designation to confirm the good news, but we are clearly pleased to be included in the 100 Top Hospitals: ICU Benchmarks for Success.

The study utilized data from both Solucient's diagnosis-related group (DRG), and the most recent hospital databases available (1998 and 1999). The DRG database is based on the Medicare provider analysis and review data sent from the Health Care Financing Administration. This database contains the claims information on approximately 12 million Medicare patients discharged annually from acute-care hospitals across the nation.

News Notes
Correction. The late TV evangelist George Vandeman has three sons George Jr., Robert, and Ron. The March 2001 Review listed only two sons.

Charles Scriven, Interim president at Kettering Medical Center in Ohio and former president of Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland, was recently appointed president. Scriven replaces Peter Bath, who became senior pastor of Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church in Takoma Park.