When Rev. David Weissbard '62 MDiv '65 sought a place to settle upon retirement recently, he chose Canton, his college town. But he had begun making reconnections shortly before.  During the University's Sesquicentennial year, 2005-06, he came to campus for an invited talk, "Ethics Without a Deity." He also organized a reunion of Theological School alumni and participated in the rededication of Hale Chapel on campus during Reunion Weekend in June 2006.

Weissbard is a native of Albany, NY, and recently retired senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockford, IL. He earned his Master of Divinity degree and certification in religious education from the Theological School at St. Lawrence in 1965, the final year of the school's existence at the University; because he was last alphabetically in his class, he proudly lays claim to being the last graduate of the school.

After serving at churches in Dexter and Henderson, NY; Bedford, MA; and Fairfax, VA, Weissbard became the senior minister in Rockford in 1979. He was the producer of "Fusion," a weekly half-hour television program on WIFR in Rockford for 25 years, served on the Rockford Schools Religion Policy Committee and was president of the Northern Illinois Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Weissbard also served as vice president of the Central Midwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and as secretary of the Central Midwest District chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association. He is the founder of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at the Chautauqua Institute and of the Chautauqua Society for Peace and Justice. He received awards from the Unitarian Universalist Association for the outstanding sermon on Stewardship in 1999 and on Religious Education in 2000.