The Reverend Father E. Bolling Robertson, American priest and educator who ran the Episcopal High School in Cape Mount, Liberia, died Friday, June 16, 2006, at the St. Paul River home of his former student, Dr. Taylor Neal. He was 88 years old.

“The passing of The Rev. Father. E. Bolling Robertson marks the passing of an era in the Diocese of the Episcopal Church of Liberia. He was at the center of the Church's education ministry for more than four decades. In the molding of the character of scores of Liberians he leaves a legacy that will endure. I am blessed to be counted among those whose lives he shaped for service to humanity,” said The Rev. Matilda E.G. Dunn, former Robertson student and currently Vicar of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Copperhill, Tennessee.

Robertson, a 1940 graduate of the University of Virginia, graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria in 1943 and was ordained to the priesthood November 30, 1943. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society appointed him missionary to Liberia the following year.

Upon his arrival at the St. John’s Mission on February 17, 1945, Robertson became principal of the Episcopal High School.  Educating and nurturing Liberian youth became the focus of his adult life. While education was always the purpose of the Episcopal High School, it was Father Robertson who set such a high standard of schooling that parents throughout Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone sought it out for their children. The school soon became a feeder school for Cuttington College and Divinity School (now Cuttington University), the University of Liberia, and other educational institutions in the country.

In addition to his role as principal at St. John’s, Robertson headed all Episcopal schools throughout Grand Cape Mount, from kindergarten to secondary. He was also rector of St. John’s Irving memorial Church and archdeacon of Grand Cape Mount County.

In 1959, he married Marilyn Jane Kean, who chose to join him as a missionary in Liberia. Robertson retired from St. John’s in 1971 and was appointed interim president on Cuttington the following year. From 1974 to 1975 he served as administrative assistant to Bishop George D. Brown and as chaplain at Bromley School for Girls. He headed the Theology Division at Cuttington University College from 1975 to 1983. Robertson also served as treasurer of the West African Association of Theological Institutions from 1978 to 1981.

Father Robertson and his wife Marilyn ended their official missionary duties in 1984 and returned to the United States. They settled in Mechanicsville, Virginia, where he took up canonical residence in the Diocese of Virginia.