Leroy C Ioas (15 February 1896, Wilmington, Illinois - 22 July 1965,

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) was a

Hand of the Cause Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá, who died in 2007. Hands of ...

of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. His parents declared themselves Baháʼís in 1898 and took Ioas to meet

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian: , ;, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (, ), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, who designated him to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 un ...

during the latter's travels in the United States in 1912. Ioas moved to San Francisco after marrying Sylvia Kuhlman and soon became active in the local Baháʼí community.

Service at the Baháʼí World Centre

The head of the Baháʼí Faith in the first half of the 20th century,

Shoghi Effendi Shoghí Effendi (; ;1896 or 1897 – 4 November 1957) was Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1922 until his death in 1957. As the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, he was charged with guiding the development of the Baháʼí Faith, in ...

, appointed Ioas to the

International Baháʼí Council The International Baháʼí Council (IBC) was an administrative institution of the Baháʼí Faith, first created in 1951 as a precursor to the Universal House of Justice, which replaced it in 1963. Formation The following is a January 9, 195 ...

, precursor to the

Universal House of Justice The Universal House of Justice is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate on issues not already addressed in the ...

, in December 1951, where he served until 1961 as secretary-general. In order to fulfill his duties, he quit his job in the railway industry, where he had worked for nearly forty years, and moved to

, where he would reside until the end of his life. He closely supervised the construction and completion of the

Shrine of the Báb The Shrine of the Báb is a structure on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, where the remains of the Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith and forerunner of Baháʼu'lláh in the Baháʼí Faith, are buried; it is considered to be the sec ...

, for which

named the door on the octagon after him. After the death of

, Ioas was among nine

Hands of the Cause Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá, who died in 2007. Hands o ...

elected as a Custodian of the Baháʼí Faith on 25 November 1957. He travelled far and frequently to promote and expand the faith, even as his health weakened after heart problems began in 1953. His last trip, to eight areas in the United States during 1964, weakened him so much that he could not return to Haifa for six months and died less than a year later.Adamson, ''Historical dictionary'', 254. He is buried in the Mount Carmel Baháʼí cemetery in Haifa.

Works

*Ioas, Leroy C, Julia Lynch Chanler, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab. ''Three Letters''. New York: Caravan of East and West, 1954.

References

Bibliography

* Adamson, Hugh C. "Ioas, Leroy C." ''Historical dictionary of the Baháʼí faith''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2007. * * American Bahá'ís Hands of the Cause 1896 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Bahá'ís {{Baháʼí-stub