The Rt. Rev. George Leslie Cadigan, who served as Bishop of Missouri for 16 years, died Dec. 14 at his home in Topsham, Maine. He was 95.

Bishop Cadigan waited more than three weeks after his election in 1958 before accepting the call to be bishop coadjutor. During his episcopate, the Diocese of Missouri experienced significant growth with congregations formed or missions becoming parishes in nine locations. He also saw a restructuring of diocesan governance which gave greater voice to the laity.

The seventh Bishop of Missouri, Bishop Cadigan was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He was a graduate of Amherst College, where he was class president and played football. He attended Episcopal Theological School and Jesus College in Cambridge, England. Following ordination in 1935, he served congregations in Massachusetts and Maine. He was rector of St. Paul’s Church, Rochester, N.Y., when he was nominated in Missouri.

Missouri’s convention met Dec. 4, 1958, and elected Bishop Cadigan from a field of five candidates on the first ballot. The bishop-elect and his wife visited Missouri shortly before Christmas, and on Dec. 26 he informed the standing committee that he would serve. He was consecrated bishop coadjutor on April 16, 1959, and became the diocesan one month later, following the resignation of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Lichtenberger, who had been elected Presiding Bishop the previous November.

The Diocese of Missouri experienced significant growth in the suburbs surrounding St. Louis during his tenure. It was Bishop Cadigan who oversaw the 1960 trade for property in Creve Coeur that would become the new site for the Thompson Center for property in Webster Groves that had been bequeathed to the diocese. At that time, he also led a successful capital campaign for major repairs and renovations to Christ Church Cathedral, diocesan expansion, and creation of a revolving loan program for congregations.

Initially in retirement, Bishop Cadigan was a counselor at Amherst and chaplain at the University of Massachusetts. He also served on the staff of Grace Church, Amherst, until his ultimate retirement to Maine in 1984. There he pursued fly fishing and kept in touch with the group of Missouri clergy he had led in the struggles for social and racial justice in St. Louis during the 1960s. A number of those priests gathered with Bishop Cadigan in Maine last summer to remember their days together.

Bishop Cadigan was married twice. His wife, Charlotte, died in 1943. They had two sons, Peter and David. Jane Jones, whom he married in 1944, died in 1993. They had two children, Rufus and Christine.

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