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James K. Mathews was born Feb. 10, 1913, in Breezewood, Pa., one of eight children born to Laura Mae Wilson Mathews and James Davenport Mathews, an itinerant Methodist preacher.

He received his B.A. from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., in 1931, working his way through college as a baker. His brother, Joe, convinced him to enter the clergy. He received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from Biblical Seminary in New York City, then entered Boston University School of Theology, where he studied for his master’s degree in theology.

During his first semester, he heard a lecture by Bishop Azariah from South India and decided to become a missionary.  He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1937 and in February, 1938, arrived in Bombay (now Mumbai). As part of his mission work, Mathews mastered several Indian languages, including Marathi, Hindustani, Urdu and eventually, Sanskrit.

In 1939, Mathews traveled to northern India to hear the well-known evangelist E. Stanley Jones lecture. While there, he met Jones’ daughter Eunice. The two married on June 1, 1940. They had three children.

In 1942, Mathews enlisted in New Delhi in the United States Army CBI Theater (China-Burma-India) and was appointed First Lieutenant and assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, while Eunice worked for the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA.

After the war, Mathews enrolled in Columbia University under the GI Bill, where he pursued his PhD in theology. His dissertation was on Mahatma Gandhi, whom he had met in India, and who was a close friend of his father-in-law, E. Stanley Jones, whose book "Gandhi: Portrait of a Friend," inspired Martin Luther King to embrace non-violence as the core principle of the Civil Rights movement.

The Mathewses returned to the United States in 1946 where he worked for the Methodist Board of Missions in New York City, eventually serving as associate general secretary of the Division of World Missions. He traveled constantly, crossing the Atlantic Ocean 220 times, making more than 60 trips to India, 28 to Africa, 16 to Latin America, and a dozen to Korea and Japan during his lifetime. Throughout his life, Mathews maintained close ties with India.

In 1955, Mathews moved his family to Cambridge, England, for six months, where he researched Mahatma Gandhi’s earlier writings. His dissertation on Gandhi was published as "The Matchless Weapon: Satyagraha" in 1994. In 2003, 90-year-old Bishop Mathews was invited to discuss Gandhi as the featured guest on Washington Journal on C-SPAN.

Mathews was first elected Bishop of the Methodist Church in 1956 in Lucknow, India; however, he declined, suggesting that Indians should be ministered to by their own people. Four years later he was elected Bishop by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in Washington, D.C., and was assigned to the New England Conference.

He served in New England 12 years and in 1972, Mathews was appointed bishop of the Washington, D.C. , Area. During the first Bush administration, Bishop Mathews was instrumental in the effort to construct an interdenominational chapel at Camp David. He, along with then Archbishop (later Cardinal) William Baum, created an ecumenical initiative called the Inter-Faith Conference of Metropolitan Washington in 1978, which is now the most widely representative such body in the country. He retired in 1980.

Bishop Mathews was active in the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s. As early as 1960, he met with Jackie Robinson to discuss growing racial tensions and in 1963, Bishop Mathews joined President Kennedy at the White House to discuss civil rights. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and was present at Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I have a Dream" speech. On Easter Sunday in 1964, he and African-American Bishop Charles Golden were barred from entering an all-white Methodist church in Jackson, Miss. In 1978, Bishop Mathews participated in "The Longest Walk" in Washington, with Mohammad Ali, Vice President Walter Mondale and many other well known names, to draw attention to the plight of Native Americans.

In 1985, Bishop Mathews was called out of retirement to replace Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Methodist bishop of Zimbabwe, who had to flee the country after challenging Prime Minister Robert Mugabe in an election. He served in Harare for a year, and helped to found Africa University. In 1987, he was recalled a second time to form a new area in the Northeastern Jurisdiction and served for two years as bishop of the Albany Area in upstate New York. He finally retired in 1996, 16 years after his first retirement.

In 1995, Bishop Mathews flew to Honolulu on Air Force One with President Clinton to lead ceremonies at Pearl Harbor to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war and to introduce President Clinton.

He served on a number of boards, including those of American University and Sibley Hospital in Washington, Boston University, and as chairman of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Bishop Mathews was the author of nine books, written from 1955 to 2006, including his autobiography/memoir "A Gloobal Odyssey," in 2000. His last is a tribute to his brother Joseph Mathews, "Brother Joe: A 20th Century Apostle."

Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Eunice Mathews; daughters Anne Mathews-Younes of Potomac, and Janice Stromsem of Arlington County, Va.; son, J. Stanley Mathews of Geneva, NY; six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Bishop James K. Mathews died Sept. 8, 2010. He was one of the longest-serving bishops in the United Methodist Church. A memorial service was held Sept. 25, at Metropolitan Memorial UMC. Participating in the service were eight bishops of 24 who attended, including Bishop John Schol. The Rev. William Holmes whom Bishop Mathews appointed to Metropolitan UMC in 1974, also spoke.