The Rt. Rev. Roy F. “Bud” Cederholm Jr., during his 2001 consecration at Trinity Church in Boston. Photo: Jonathan Beller/Diocese of Massachusetts

[Diocese of Massachusetts] The Rt. Rev. Roy F. “Bud” Cederholm Jr., bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts from 2001 until his retirement in 2011, died on Aug. 27 at Benchmark Senior Living at Forge Hill in Franklin, where he had resided since 2021 with Ruth Ann, his wife of 57 years. Cederholm was 79.

In an Aug. 28 announcement, the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, noted that Cederholm was “beloved throughout our diocese and beyond.”

“His deep pastoral heart and devotion to congregational life, honed over decades of ministry as a parish priest, continued to characterize his ministry as bishop. Whether supporting clergy and lay leaders, advocating passionately for environmental stewardship or teaching children a new camp song–in countless ways Bishop Bud was a manifestation of the church’s care for God’s people and the world in which we dwell,” Gates said.

Cederholm was at heart a teacher and a storytelling kind of preacher. A typical Cederholm Sunday sermon opened with a back-pew-rousing “Good morning, Church!” He brought his guitar along to church gatherings of every kind and loved sharing his love of Jesus through a repertoire of folksy tunes. He was fun-loving and enthusiastic in his enthusiasms; it was not unusual to find him in a t-shirt and shorts leading kids in a line dance during a summer camp session, or fully vested in cope and mitre and being raised in a lift-truck’s bucket in order to bless newly installed solar panels on a church roof.

In electing Cederholm as its bishop suffragan on Nov. 4, 2000, the Diocese of Massachusetts chose a native son, a seasoned priest, well-known and respected throughout New England, a leader and servant of the church who knew the diocese well, having spent, at the time of his election, more than half of his ordained ministry in Massachusetts.

Read the full obituary here.