John B. Coburn was rector of St. James Church in New York City from 1969 to 1975 – particularly tumultuous times for the city and the Church. From 1967 to 1976, he also served as president of the Episcopal House of Deputies, during which the church adopted a new Book of Common Prayer, plus began ordaining women, unofficially in 1974, and formally two years later. The Rev. Coburn was dean of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1957 to 1968, and was a founder of the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of Protestant and Roman Catholic seminaries. He also helped found the Chapel of St. James the Fisherman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. He died in 2009 at age 94.