Franz Pieper

Franz August Otto Pieper (June 27, 1852 – June 3, 1931) was a Confessional Lutheran theologian; born at Karwitz, Pomerania (85 miles (137 km) west of Danzig) and died in St. Louis, Missouri. After studying at the gymnasium of Kolberg, Pomerania, he emigrated to the United States in 1870. He graduated from Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1872 and from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1875. He was a Lutheran pastor from 1875 to 1878, serving first at Centerville, Wisconsin and then at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He became a professor of theology at Concordia Seminary in 1878, and in 1887 he became president of the same institution. He also served as editor of Lehre und Wehre, the faculty journal of Concordia Seminary.

From 1882 to 1899, Pieper served on the Board of Colored Missions for the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. He then served as president of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States (Missouri Synod) from 1899 to 1911.