The Rev. Lyle R. Guttu, 71, long-time and much-beloved chaplain at Wagner College, Staten Island, died Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007, after having been struck by a car the day before.
LYLE ROBERT GUTTU was born April 16, 1936, in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, to Mathias J. and Clara Dalen Guttu.
Lyle’s parents preceded him in death.
He is survived by his former wife June Guttu Liman, their children Mathias and Allison Guttu, and Lyle’s four siblings, sisters Carol Guttu and Mavis Pfeiffer and brothers Elmer and George.
When Lyle was quite young, his family moved from Red Lake Falls to Thief River Falls, Minnesota, where Lyle graduated Lincoln High School in 1954. A member of LHS’s undefeated (20-0) 1953-54 hockey team, he also played college hockey when he attended Harvard University, where he was named All-Ivy for two years running. Lyle earned his A.B. in history from Harvard in 1958. Lyle’s Crimson ties remained strong throughout his adult life. In recent years he served as memorial speaker at his Harvard class reunions.
After graduating Harvard, Lyle taught English and coached varsity hockey for a couple of years (1958-60) at the Nichols School in Buffalo, New York, before deciding to enroll at Union Theological Seminary in 1960. Lyle worked for the next five years on his B.D. at Union, majoring in the sociology of religion. He graduated in 1965.
According to Lyle’s children, he remained very close friends with several former classmates, who served as surrogate “uncles” to Matt and Allison as they were growing up, including: high school and seminary classmate Thomas W. Wahman; composer and playwright the Rev. Al Carmines and his partner Paul Rounsaville; mentor Roy Moscowitz; and Harvard classmates Fred Anderson and Woody Harris.
Following Lyle’s ordination in July 1965, he was assigned as a board missionary to the Church of the Holy Redeemer in East New York, Brooklyn; in January 1968, he was called as pastor.
“Holy Redeemer is a congregation made up largely of teenagers, about half of them from families on welfare,” Lyle wrote in a 1972 autobiographical sketch. “My responsibilities, apart from pastoral acts … have been community organization and the creation of a comprehensive (and I hope authentic) youth ministry program. Camp B.E.N.Y. [Brooklyn–East New York] (an 8-week summer day camp for 150 children) and Operation Give-A-Damn (a mobile street theater) have been the two largest and sustained projects undertaken.”
Lyle served at Holy Redeemer until 1971.
The next year, he was appointed chaplain at Wagner College, succeeding the Rev. William T. Heil Jr.
The Wagner College campus was Lyle’s home for the remainder of his life. He first lived in the cottage now called Kairos House, “batching it” for a couple of years before marrying June Allison White in August 1974. Lyle and June moved into the house now called the Chaplain’s Residence in 1976, the year daughter Allison was born. Five years later, Allison was joined by brother Mathias. Lyle and June were married until 1994.
“There was a very open-door policy, both with his house and his time,” Allison Guttu recalled.
The flow of visitors was constant, Matt Guttu said, including students, faculty and staff alike.
“He saw it as his personal responsibility to welcome newcomers to the college,” Allison said, “to minister to the faculty. When someone relocating was here alone for the holidays, he made sure they had a place at his table.”
Lyle Guttu served in a variety of positions, in addition to chaplain, during his tenure at Wagner College, including:
- Dean of Students, 1975-85 and 1990-92;
- Special Assistant to the Academic Vice President, 1985-88;
- Vice Provost, 1992-2000, and
- Special Assistant to the President, from 2000 on.
Seven years after assuming the Wagner chaplaincy, Lyle also accepted pastoral responsibility for St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, a post he held until his death. Established in 1868, the parish was originally known as the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church. In recent years, St. Peter’s has served mostly elderly congregants, mostly of Caribbean origin.
ON SATURDAY afternoon, Dec. 15, while shopping on Forest Avenue, Staten Island, Lyle was struck by a car while crossing the street. According to police, the driver was neither intoxicated nor traveling at an excessive speed; she simply did not see him until it was too late, she said.
Immediately after the accident, Lyle was fully conscious but in severe pain. He was taken to Richmond University Medical Center (St. Vincent’s Hospital), Staten Island, where he was treated for several broken ribs and possible internal injuries.
Lyle Guttu died at 9:15 Sunday evening, Dec. 16. An autopsy performed by the city medical examiner on Monday determined that his death was caused by the “multiple blunt impact injuries of the torso” sustained when the car hit him Saturday.
VISITATION WILL be Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday afternoon, Dec. 20, from 2 to 4 p.m., and Thursday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at Matthew Funeral Home, 2508 Victory Blvd., Staten Island.
A motor procession will escort Lyle Guttu’s remains from the funeral home to Trinity Lutheran Church on Friday morning, Dec. 21, for a memorial service. The procession will depart the funeral home at 10 a.m.
The memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 309 Saint Pauls Ave., Staten Island.
A luncheon will follow the memorial service on Friday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. in the main dining hall of the Wagner Union building on the Wagner College campus on Howard Avenue, Grymes Hill, Staten Island.
Lyle’s family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be made to the Lyle Guttu Memorial Fund, Wagner College, One Campus Road, Staten Island NY 10301.
Those who wish to share their memories of Lyle Guttu are encouraged to write them down and e-mail them to Wagner Media Relations Director Lee Manchester (lee.manchester@wagner.edu). A page will be created on the college Web site where those memories of our beloved colleague and friend can be shared.