John Dever, a former professor of church and society at Southern Seminary, died of a heart attack July 4 at the age of 72.

Dever joined the faculty of the Louisville, Ky., seminary in 1989 and served as the William Walker Brookes Professor of Church and Society from 1992-2001, when he assumed a part-time role in the seminary’s Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth. He retired in 2007. He is survived by his wife of nearly 47 years, Marcia, and their daughter Michelle.