Samuel Laird (1835-1913) “…belonged to a group of stalwart preachers and leaders whose influence could not be confined to a congregation or a city or a synod. Among them were numbered such men as Krauth, Krotel, Mann, Spaeth, the Schaeffers, Schmucker, Seiss, Greenwald, Passavant.” (George Sandt) Dr. Laird was secretary of the General Council, president of the Pittsburgh Synod, President of the Pennsylvania Ministerium and was influential in the operations of the General Council’s English Home Mission Board. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Muhlenberg College, and on the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. For many years he served as Trustee of the German Hospital, and a Director of the Mary J. Drexel Home and Motherhouse of Deaconesses, in Philadelphia. Rev. Laird pastored faithfully for thirty-five years at St. Mark’s Church, Philadelphia,