Dr. Simon J. Kistemaker was born on October 21, 1930 and passed away on Saturday, September 23, 2017. Dr. Kistemaker’s teaching ministry at RTS began in 1971. After “retiring” from RTS Jackson in 1996, “Dr. K” and Jean came to Orlando and he taught on the Orlando campus until 2011. Dr. K’s scholarly and publishing achievements are well known and widely accessible, including his fifty-two years of teaching, but his staff and faculty colleagues will remember him for his constant cheerfulness, prayerfulness, wisdom, and kindness. He daily walked from his nearby home to campus; ate an apple daily for lunch, core included; taught Sunday school at Orangewood Presbyterian Church; attended Sabbath evening worship at Reformation OPC; and possessed a lifelong intellectual curiosity which led him to learn Coptic in his eighties. His union with Jean of sixty-one years produced seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. Dr. K died after a brief illness. He spoke his final “amen” after hearing Psalm 23 read to him and entered into the joy of his master. Dr. K personified the apostle’s admonition “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Dr. Kistemaker’s family has directed that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Kistemaker Scholarship Fund at either the Jackson or Orlando campus.