IN MEMORIAM: Michael Hiller, Bexley Seabury ’21
The Rev. Dr. Michael Terrass Hiller, Bexley Seabury Class of 2021, Episcopal priest and former Lutheran Pastor and a leader in the movement for the acceptance of LGBTQ+ clergy in Protestant churches, died Jan. 1, 2025, from complications of advanced congestive heart failure, aged 79.
Hiller was a noted liturgist and preacher, and an early supporter of the use of inclusive language in worship. As one of a handful of openly gay clergy during the 1980s and 90s, Hiller advocated for LGBTQ+ rights within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA). He also counseled and guided many closeted pastors who sought him out at conferences and meetings. Later, he was received into the Episcopal Church as a priest and served several of its congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Born in Los Angeles in 1945, Michael was the son of Lutheran pastor Rev. Carl Otto Albert Hiller and Ruth Caroline Terrass Hiller. He grew up in the towns across the southwest United States where his father served as pastor. From an early age, Michael felt the call to Lutheran ordination, which his parents enthusiastically encouraged, sending him to boarding schools where he could receive a traditional education that would prepare him for ministry.
In 1967, Michael graduated from Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Ind. and began studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. He graduated from seminary in 1971 and was ordained shortly after. His father performed the ordination at Grace Lutheran Church in San Mateo, Calif.
During his studies at Concordia Seminary, Michael spent a year as vicar at the Evangelical Church of St. Luke in Chicago, Ill. There, he met and married Joanne Koerber, St. Luke’s assistant organist, in 1970. In 1971, Hiller was called by the Lutheran Church of the Way, a mission congregation in Taunton, Mass., and then to St. Ambrose Lutheran Church, in Pennsville, N.J., in 1977. In 1975, Joanne and Michael welcomed their daughter, Anna Eva, into the world.
After moving to Pennsville, Michael’s life became turbulent; Joanne and Michael divorced in 1980. In 1981, he resigned from St. Ambrose. The upheaval in his personal life led Michael into a time of discernment about both his vocation and his sexual identity. Moving to San Francisco, he began attending St. Francis Lutheran Church, located on the edge of the burgeoning Castro District, and found welcome among other openly gay members of the congregation. St. Francis’ senior pastor, James DeLange, recognized Michael’s gift for liturgy, and asked him to lead a clergy-lay worship planning group, which developed gender-neutral language for worship and restored the Easter Vigil service to Holy Week. Michael joined the staff as an associate pastor in 1984, preaching a message of inclusiveness, compassion, and God’s love for all.
Michael’s work played a crucial role in the fight for acceptance of LGBTQ+ persons in Protestant faith communities. As an out gay Lutheran pastor, Michael advocated for the ordination of LGBTQ+ seminarians and pastors. St. Francis and First United Lutheran churches in San Francisco drew national attention when they ordained three openly gay/lesbian pastors. Both congregations were expelled from the ELCA due to the ban on the ordination of gay clergy. As the push for gay rights gained traction, the denomination ended this prohibition, readmitting the two churches in 2009.
Michael left his position at St. Francis in 2004, but he continued his ministry, changing to the Episcopal faith. He was received as a priest into the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of California in 2008 and, over the course of the next 18 years, served as non-stipendiary clergy at Trinity and All Saints Episcopal churches in San Francisco. He also served as interim rector at St. Mark’s Santa Clara and St. Mark’s Berkeley, and during this time obtained his Doctor of Ministry from Bexley Seabury.
In parallel with his ministry, Michael also had a successful career in Human Resources, which eventually led to him becoming Vice President of Human Resources at Stanford Federal Credit Union.
Michael led a rich personal life, filled with friends, family, laughter, and many, many books. His 33-year partnership with Arthur Morris brought him great joy; he found in Arthur an equally gifted host and companion for their adventures around the globe. A Holy Union was performed for them at St. Francis in 1994, a domestic partnership followed in 1996, and finally, legal marriage in 2016.
In November 2024 he had just finished celebrating mass at St. Mark's and was in a room off the church sanctuary when he collapsed. Two months later, Fr. Michael T. Hiller died on January 1, 2025, attended by his husband Arthur and his sister Wendy Hiller Gee. He is survived by his husband Arthur Morris of San Francisco; his daughter Anna Hiller of Reno, Nev.; his brother the Rev. Tom Hiller and his wife Lisa of Milwaukie, Ore, their son, Alexander Hiller of La Crosse, Wis, and their daughter Victoria Hiller of Portland; his sister Bonnie Hiller Fullerton and her husband Sean of Salem, Ore.; and his sister Wendy Hiller Gee, her husband Gordon, and their son Carl Gee of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Fr. Hiller's funeral was held on Feb. 15, 2025, at 2:00 pm at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley, CA. The family urges donations to the Red Cross for the victims of January's southern California wildfires.
