Abraham J. Malherbe, the husband of 59 years of Phyllis Melton Malherbe, died suddenly Sept. 28, 2012.
Abe was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on May 15, 1930. He came to the United States in 1951 to attend Abilene Christian University. He married Phyllis Melton in 1953 and then went to Harvard, where he earned both an S.T.B. in 1957 and a Th.D in 1963.
Abe held a faculty position at ACU from 1963-69, was a visiting scholar at Harvard from 1967-68 and Dartmouth College from 1969-70. He came to Yale Divinity School in 1970, and in 1981 he became the Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Literature and served on the faculty with distinction until his retirement in 1994.
In addition to his wife Phyllis, he is survived by his daughters, Selina Malherbe Brooks of Charlotte, NC, Cornelia Malherbe Kleman and her husband Glenn of Sudan, TX, a son Abraham J. "Jan" Malherbe of Charlotte, NC, a sister Lettie Greyling and two brothers Claude and Chris Malherbe of South Africa.
He was the grandfather of Bryce Robert Kleman, Preston Jacob Kleman and Meredith Malherbe Brooks. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Friends and colleagues are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. at the Marquand Chapel, Yale Divinity School. Arrangements in care of Beecher & Bennett, 2300 Whitney Ave., Hamden.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Abraham J. Malherbe Scholarship or the Abraham Johannes Malherbe Fellowship, c/o The Development Office, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511.
For information and expanded obituary, please see www.beecherandbennett.com.
