News
Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday, 13 September, for Loïs Meyhoffer, longtime staff member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), who died this week at nearly 100 years.
A Geneva native, Meyhoffer joined the fledgling organization’s refugee assistance efforts in 1949 and moved to Germany to oversee its efforts there, returning to Geneva in 1955 and working on staff, mainly in church relations and care for displaced persons, until her retirement in the early 1980s.
Said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit of her, “During this anniversary year, we are keenly aware of the tremendous legacy we inherit from the dedication and hard work of WCC staff members like Loïs, Her work at the WCC really spans its early and ambitious commitment to refugee resettlement after World War II through its years of keeping together the fellowship during the Cold War. Her commitment to hospitality for the foreigner, the stranger, and the migrant never waned. We are both grateful and inspired.”
Meyhoffer was the first student at the International School of Geneva and, as its celebrity alumna, addressed its 90th reunion in 2014, again urging the cause of welcoming and including migrants and refugees into the community.
