Rev. Dr. William Lupfer
The Rev. Dr. William Lupfer became the 18th Rector of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City in 2015. Dr. Lupfer oversees Trinity’s local and global ministries, which benefit people in New York City, nationally, and throughout the world. As Rector, he is focused on racial justice, mass incarceration, homelessness, and low-income housing, and is an advocate for new and dynamic ways to help those without adequate voice in society. He is actively engaged with the Trinity community, the wider Church, other faith traditions, not-for-profit-organizations, and leaders in politics and business.
Before Trinity, Dr. Lupfer was Dean of the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Oregon, an urban congregation of 1,800 members from the greater Portland area. In Oregon, he was on the board of directors of Legacy Health, the largest nonprofit, locally owned, health system in the Portland-Vancouver area and also served as co-chair of the Companion Diocese Committee. Dr. Lupfer also served parishes in Kenilworth, Illinois and Plymouth, Michigan, campus ministries in Evanston, Illinois and Baltimore, Maryland, and was a prison chaplain in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His early days in ministry were spent leading young people on wilderness adventure trips.
Dr. Lupfer earned his bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religions from the University of Colorado, and his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University. He was awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, completing his dissertation, “The Rector as Parish Leader: Leveraging Vestry Leadership for Spiritual Formation.”
Dr. Lupfer’s wife, Kimiko Koga, was born and raised in Tokyo. They have travelled widely with their two teenagers. Their life mission is to build bridges across differences of culture, race and custom.