Bruce Birchard

Bruce Birchard joined the Religious Society of Friends in 1967 while a student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. After getting an MA in anthropology at the University of Chicago, he moved with his wife, Dr. Demie Kurz, to Philadelphia. There they both joined Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. He worked for the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Friends Peace Committee from 1974 to 1984, then as National Coordinator of the Disarmament Program of the American Friends Service Committee from 1984 to 1992, and finally as General Secretary of Friends General Conference from 1992 until 2011. In his retirement, he has been involved with several Quaker organizations, including Quaker Voluntary Service, Right Sharing of World Resources, the Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends (focused on protecting the integrity of U.S. elections), the PYM Eco-Justice Collaborative, and most recently the new Quaker Action, Mid-Atlantic Region.