Preston, Robert Asher, 1912- .

Robert Asher Preston was born on July 16, 1912 in Corydon, Iowa. He graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University at the age of twenty and was asked to stay on for a year and teach Greek. In 1935 he received a Masters degree from the University of Chicago and in 1936 he became the educational assistant to the Clinical Director of the New Jersey State Hospital at Greystone Park. Preston served as a Chaplain in the Air Force during World War II. Immediately after the war he was associated with the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas, and during this time many of his articles were published in professional magazines.

In 1955 Preston relocated to Bethany College to be the Dean of Students and went on to earn a Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1961 he was named Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Bethany College. In 1970 Preston was invited to cap his career at Lexington Theological Seminary. His special ministry was as a counselor, and he was a counselor to the counselors. He practiced his clinical pastoral skills in varied situations throughout his life. Robert Asher Preston died on May 26, 1996.