Feder, Daniel (1905–2006)
By Daniel Oscar Plenc
Daniel Oscar Plenc, Th.D. (River Plate Adventist University, Entre Ríos, Argentina), currently works as a theology professor and director of the White Research Center at the River Plate Adventist University. He worked as a district pastor for twelve years. He is married to Lissie Ziegler and has three children.
First Published: January 29, 2020
Daniel Feder was a descendant of one of the first Argentine Adventist families, pastor, and evangelist in Argentina.1
Feder was born on March 27, 1905, in Don Cristóbal, near Ramírez, Entre Ríos, Argentina, into one of the pioneer families of Adventism in South America.2 His parents soon moved to Seguí, Entre Ríos, where a 25-member church was organized. In 1913 the members built an adobe chapel in the town to perform Saturday services, and during the week a school was run, whose teacher was Pablo Bismarck. There Daniel learned how to read and write in German, and to solve the first math operations. Another teacher who served in this small school in the years of 1916 and 1917 was Walter Schubert (1896–1980), who would become an outstanding pastor and evangelist in many countries.
When he was a child, Daniel Feder attended an Adventist congress with his family. He was surprised by the number of people who would arrive from everywhere with their four-wheel cars pulled by beautiful horses. Because of their way of dressing, it seemed they were coming to a party. What most impressed Daniel was the songs that delegates sang with such enthusiasm.
Seeing how interested his son was in those religious meetings, Daniel’s father asked him: “Do you want to be a pastor?” The little boy felt God’s call and replied positively.
The place for him to study was River Plate Academy. Daniel was taken to this institution in 1918 at the age of 13, willing to complete his primary studies and to keep preparing for the pastoral ministry. In the whole school there were 14 boys and 12 girls. In the following year Joseph Westphal baptized Daniel and other students in a nearby stream. The presidents of the institution back then were Harland U. Stevens and Jess S. Marshall, who promoted the building development of the school, such as the construction of the Hogar de Varones.
Daniel Feder concluded his pastoral studies in 1923 at age of 18 and took a teacher preparation course.3 A school inspector from the government of Entre Ríos invited him to work in schools of the state with the promise of a good salary, a proposal that Daniel did not accept, because of his conviction that he should devote all his time to the mission of the church. For three years he worked as a teacher and president of the rural Adventist Academy of Crespo, Entre Ríos. He continued his theology studies at Takoma University, United States, and returned to his country to serve in Santa Fe and in the cities of Paraná, Urdinarrain, Galarza, and Nogoyá, in Entre Ríos province.
Feder was ordained to the ministry in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 4, 1936.4 He had the opportunity to work with his wife, Catalina Schneider, in Belo Horizonte and Bahía, in the same country. He returned to Argentina in 1940 because of his wife’s health. Daniel worked as a pastor and evangelist in Entre Ríos and Córdoba. In this last capital city of the province of the same name, the church members gathered in an old rented warehouse until they could buy a beautiful plot for the central church. Daniel also worked in the city of Rosario.
In 1977 he benefited from retirement, and a year later he suffered the loss of his wife. In his retirement he elected the city of Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, as the place for living and for service. He married again to Haydeé Battilana and remained very active, being the church elder until he was 90 years old. Daniel Feder died on November 3, 2006, at the age of 101.
Sources
Gullón Canedo, Roberto. Una semilla de esperanza. Historia de la estructura denominacional: División Sudamericana [A Seed of Hope. History of the Denominational Structure: South American Division], 1916–2016. 1st ed. Tatuí, SP: Brazilian Publishing House, 2015.
La voz del colegio (The Voice of the Academy]. Villa Libertador General San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina: 1923.
Neilsen, Nels P. “Momento Impresionante” [Impressive Moment]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 31, no. 4 (April 1936).
Mayr, Werner. “Daniel Feder: Los himnos inspiran decisiones” [Daniel Feder: Hymns That Inspire Decisions]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 96, no. 8 (August 1996).
Plenc, Daniel Oscar. 25 Historias de misioneros [25 Stories of Missionaries]. 1st ed. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2013.
Roscher, Ernesto. “Necrología” [Obituary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] (January 18, 1926).
Notes
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See: Werner Mayr, “Daniel Feder: Los himnos inspiran decisiones” [Hymns That Inspire Decisions], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 96, no. 8 (August 1996): 30. Daniel Oscar Plenc, 25 Historias de misioneros [25 Stories of Missionaries] (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2013), 110–113.↩
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There is no list of church members that Frank H. Westphal organized near Crespo, Entre Ríos, Argentina, in 1894. It is known that some of its first leaders were Jorge H. Riffel, Reinhardt Hetze, Daniel Weiss, and Gottlieb Feder. They led the meetings, preached the gospel, and, in the absence of a pastor, they baptized the converts in the area streams. About Gottlieb Feder, see: Ernesto Roscher, “Necrología” [Obituary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], January 18, 1926, 15.↩
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The student publication of River Plate Academy, La voz del colegio [The Voice of the Academy], from 1923 (the first number) gives the names of six young people who graduated from the Missionary Course, including Daniel Feder. La voz del colegio [Voice of the Academy] (1923), 11, 13, 14. He reappears as a graduate in 1925 (perhaps for having completed more studies).↩
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A ceremony of pastors’ ordination was officiated: J. Berger Johnson, Nels P. Neilsen, and E. M. Davis. Nels P. Neilsen, “Momento Impresionante” [Impressive Moment], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 31, no. 4 (April 1936): 9. N. P. Neilsen was president of South American Division from 1931 to 1941. Roberto Gullón Canedo, Una semilla de esperanza. Historia de la estructura denominacional: División Sudamericana [A Seed of Hope. History of the Denominational Structure: South American Division], 1916-2016, 1st ed. (Tatuí, SP: Brazilian Publishing House, 2015), 184–186.↩