Milton Moran Weston II was an American Episcopal priest, banker, educator, social activist, and real-estate developer. As rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, co-founder of Carver Federal Savings Bank, Columbia University’s first African American trustee, and a leader in affordable-housing development, he helped create housing, financial, educational, and social-service institutions for New York communities.
Background
Milton Moran Weston II was born on September 10, 1910, in Tarboro, North Carolina, into an Episcopal clerical family; he was the son and grandson of Episcopal ministers. He began his higher education at St. Augustine’s Junior College in Raleigh before moving to New York in 1928 to continue his studies. His early work as a social worker, journalist, and community organizer preceded his ordination and became part of the practical social ministry that characterized his later career. Weston married Miriam Yvonne Drake in 1946. They had two children, Catherine and Gregory, and two grandchildren.
Education
Weston attended St. Augustine’s Junior College in Raleigh, North Carolina, before enrolling at Columbia University in 1928. He graduated from Columbia College in 1930, when he was one of only a small number of African American undergraduates at the University. He subsequently studied at the General Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, and the New School for Social Research. He earned a master’s degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1934 and returned to Columbia in 1949 for doctoral study in social history, completing a Ph.D. in 1954. He later received honorary theological and humane letters degrees, including the Doctor of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1964, an honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology from Columbia in 1969, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Fordham University in 1988.
Career
Weston’s professional life combined Episcopal ministry, social work, journalism, banking, education, civic leadership, and real-estate development. After graduating from Columbia, he worked as a social worker while pursuing theological studies and wrote the “Labor Forum” column for the New York Amsterdam News and other Black newspapers. During World War II he managed the Labor Victory Committee’s efforts to place African Americans in war-industry employment and organized the first Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden, which attracted more than 5,000 people. He became associated with St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem in the mid-1940s, founded an affiliated credit union in 1945, and later worked as a licensed real-estate broker. In 1948 he joined fourteen other African American and Caribbean American civic leaders in founding Carver Federal Savings Bank, an institution created to expand access to mortgages and financial services for Black New Yorkers; he served on its board for five decades and became chairman emeritus in 1998. He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1951 and served at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine from 1952 to 1957. From 1957 until his retirement in 1982, he was rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, one of Harlem’s major Episcopal congregations, and afterward served as rector emeritus. Under his leadership, the church sponsored affordable-housing developments, including apartment buildings providing hundreds of family units, a senior-housing project, a nursing home, an Upper Manhattan child-development and day-care center, and other health and community facilities. Weston taught social history at the State University of New York at Albany from 1969 to 1977 and became professor emeritus. In 1969 he was elected the first African American trustee of Columbia University, serving until 1981 and afterward as trustee emeritus. He continued to promote affordable housing and community development after his retirement, including through Housing for People, the National Association for Affordable Housing, and other nonprofit development corporations.
Achievements
Co-founded Carver Federal Savings Bank in Harlem in 1948 and helped expand mortgage access and financial services for African American and Caribbean American New Yorkers.
Served as the first African American trustee of Columbia University, beginning in 1969.
Led St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in the development of affordable housing, senior housing, a nursing home, child-care facilities, and other community institutions in Harlem and Upper Manhattan.
Founded or led nonprofit housing-development organizations that provided housing for low-income families and senior citizens.
Organized the first Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden during World War II and worked to expand African American employment in war industries.
Established the M. Moran Weston II Distinguished Lectureship in Urban and Public Policy at Columbia University through his civic and institutional legacy.
Works
article
The Crisis—In Black and White
(Article by Weston published in The Living Church, volume ...)
1965
newspaper column
Labor Forum
(Column written by Weston for the New York Amsterdam News ...)
1943
religious history
Social Policy of the Episcopal Church in the Twentieth Century
(Book based on Weston’s Columbia University doctoral resea...)
1964
religious meditations
Who Is This Jesus!
(Book of meditations on the identity and significance of J...)
1973
report
Background of the Study
(Contribution to Episcopalians at Work in the World: A Stu...)
1952
Religion
Weston was an Episcopal priest and rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem. His religious vocation was closely connected with his social activism, housing development, community services, and work on the social policy of the Episcopal Church.
Views
Weston connected Christian ministry with social responsibility and believed that churches should address material conditions such as housing, employment, education, health care, and community development. His public work reflected a commitment to expanding home ownership, improving living conditions, and enabling Black communities to create their own institutions.
Quotations:
“A banker-priest is really no more strange than an educator-priest or a social worker priest.”
Membership
Weston participated in a wide range of professional, religious, civic, educational, and philanthropic organizations. He was a lifetime member of the NAACP and served as a trustee of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Mount Sinai Medical School and Hospital, CARE, the Phelps Stokes Fund, and other institutions. He held leadership roles in Sigma Pi Phi, the Lotos Club, the Elks, the National Association for Affordable Housing, and Housing for People. His organizational service also included trusteeships and public-service committees connected with Columbia University, St. Augustine’s College, the City University of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
Lifetime member.
NAACP
,
United States
Trustee.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
,
United States
1964
Trustee.
Mount Sinai Medical School and Hospital
,
United States
1971
Trustee and member of the board of governors.
CARE
,
United States
1980
Trustee for approximately ten years.
Phelps Stokes Fund
,
United States
Governor for approximately ten years.
Foreign Policy Association
,
United States
Chairman of the board of trustees.
St. Augustine’s College
,
United States
Trustee; became trustee emeritus in 1987.
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
,
United States
1983 - 1987
President of the Zeta chapter.
Sigma Pi Phi
,
United States
1983 - 1986
Member.
Lotos Club
,
United States
Honorary Supreme Exalted Ruler.
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
,
United States
1946 - 1950
Member.
Citizens’ Commission on the Future of the City University of New York
,
United States
Personality
Weston was characterized in public accounts as energetic, authoritative, and unusually effective at bringing together religious, financial, educational, and civic resources for community projects. His own description of his role emphasized encouraging people to undertake difficult initiatives and turning institutional cooperation into practical results.
Quotes from others about the person
A Columbia University citation honoring Weston described the tangible results of his work in Harlem and Morningside Heights, including child-care facilities, housing for elderly and mentally ill residents, condominium development, and businesses started with Carver loans.
Interests
Affordable housing, urban development, civil rights, community finance, social policy, and Episcopal social action.
Connections
Weston’s principal professional and civic connections centered on St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Columbia University, Carver Federal Savings Bank, and Harlem community-development organizations. His wife, Miriam Yvonne Drake Weston, was a clinical psychologist with a doctorate from Columbia University. Their daughter Catherine became a nun in the Orthodox Christian tradition, and their son Gregory became a lawyer and Columbia Law School graduate.
Father:
Milton
Mother:
Catharine
Wife:
Miriam Yvonne Drake Weston
Clinical psychologist with a doctorate from Columbia University.
Daughter:
Catherine Weston
Nun in the Orthodox Christian tradition.
Son:
Gregory Weston
Lawyer and graduate of Columbia Law School.
References
Columbia University Record, “Moran Weston: Alumnus, Activist and Trustee Emeritus”
Documents Weston’s education, ministry, banking career, affordable-housing development, community projects, Columbia trusteeship, awards, memberships, family, and the establishment of the M. Moran Weston II Distinguished Lectureship in Urban and Public Policy.
1998
Milton Moran Weston II, Columbia University C250
Provides a biographical account of Weston’s education, social activism, journalism, banking, ministry, housing development, Columbia trusteeship, and community legacy.
Guide to the St. Philip’s Church Records
Describes Pastor Weston’s files concerning St. Philip’s Church, Carver Federal Savings Bank, Columbia University, and other nonprofit and academic organizations.
Sites of the Green Book: Carver Federal Savings Bank
Documents Carver Federal Savings Bank’s founding in 1948, Weston’s role as a founder, and the bank’s relationship to African American home ownership and community finance.
