Ellsworth Culver

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Ellsworth Culver was born in Seattle, Washington,{{cite news | author= Bernton, Hal | date = August 17, 2005 | title=Ellsworth Culver, Mercy Corps Executive, Dies | format = obituary | newspaper = Seattle Times | page = | url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ellsworth-culver-mercy-corps-executive-dies/ | access-date=2025-02-11 | quote = Ellsworth Culver, the Seattle-born humanitarian who helped shape the Pacific Northwest's Mercy Corps into an aid organization of global...}} on April 14, 1927.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Culver spent his early childhood in China.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} He was educated at Asbury College in Kentucky.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

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Culver lived and taught in pre-Castro Cuba,{{when|date=February 2025}} and subsequently would work in over 90 countries. He began his international career in 1949 as a teacher at the American School in Isle of Pines, Cuba. In 1950, Culver co-founded OC International, a Christian service organization in Asia. From 1958 to 1961, he joined World Vision as Executive Vice President and launched programs in Asia and Latin America.

In 1965, Culver turned his attention stateside to establish corporate community involvement programs in San Francisco, which developed employee task forces to work on emerging inner-city social issues. Over the next ten years, Culver developed programs that expanded to over 75 corporations across the U.S. As a result, he was asked to lead the Alliance for Volunteerism, a coalition of major U.S. voluntary organizations, to develop initiatives to strengthen community action at the local level.

Culver returned to international work in 1978 as the Executive Vice President of Food for the Hungry. His work with refugees included a rescue ship on the South China Sea; refugee camps in Southeast Asia; and food distribution programs in Kenya, Haiti, Pakistan, Peru and Bangladesh. During this time, he established the Hunger Corps, which provided young adults with opportunities for volunteer service to aid famine victims.

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Culver joined Mercy Corps in 1982 as the agency's third full-time staff member. Culver directed the expansion of Mercy Corps' international relief and development programs into Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. In Honduras, Culver helped to establish Proyecto Aldea Global (Project Global Village), an indigenous organization that provides training on agricultural methodologies, literacy, health services, and infrastructure development. Culver was instrumental in the development of Mercy Corps Europe and developing new areas of activity for Mercy Corps in Asia and around the world.

Culver served on the boards of the Arca Foundation, a progressive charitable foundation, and Global Action, an agency involved in researching and interpreting international events. He was also chairman of the ProTem Foundation, which provides employment skills training and promotes programs that address family issues related to work, and was a founding board member of the Oregon Inter-Religious Committee for Peace in the Middle East.

Culver spoke at university convocations, civic clubs, churches, panels, workshops and seminars on topics such as citizen involvement in the global community and reflections on current global events and conflicts.

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Wesley Ellsworth Culver claims he had a strong commitment to humanitarian service and promoting peace and social justice in the United States and around the world.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} But he was also a mass abuser of young girls,{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} through explicit photos, groping and molestation, and sexual assault on his own daughter and other young girls.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

In 2019, Culver's daughter, Tanya Culver Humphrey, publicly alleged that Culver had sexually abused her for a period of ten years, starting when she was a young child and continuing into her teenage years.{{cite web|author=Noelle Crombie, Noelle; Williams, Kale & Nakamura, Beth |title=No Mercy |date=October 8, 2019 |url=https://projects.oregonlive.com/no-mercy/| work = OregonLive.com |accessdate=2019-10-08}} Humphrey also alleged that Culver made arrangements for men he knew to sexually abuse other children.{{cite web | author=Baker, Mike | date = 2021-05-19 | title=Deep Regret: Inside Aid Organization Grappling With Sexual Abuse| work = The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/us/mercy-corps-abuse-investigation.html | access-date=2021-05-19}}

In 2019 the Oregonian released a 10-month investigation regarding credible sexual assault and child abuse allegations against Culver by his daughter Tania Humphrey.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Within the investigation, it came to light that Mercy Corps was notified of the allegations twice, in 1994 and again in 2018.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Both times they deemed there was 'insufficient evidence', and in 1994 Culver was forced to change positions but remained with Mercy Corps for a decade more.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} There is substantial evidence of further victims within the U.S., as well as abroad in areas he worked.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} After the 2019 investigation and its claims of misconduct by the company, multiple executive leaders within Mercy Corps resigned.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Noel Crombie's reporting at OregonLive.com argues that Mercy Corps was aware of Culver's sexual abuse yet allowed him to remain in leadership roles and travel the world on their behalf for another 10 years.

Culver visited North Korea more than 20 times,{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} and in 2006, that nation posthumously awarded its Friendship Medal to Culver in recognition of his efforts to alleviate poverty and hunger in the country. He was the first American to earn such a medal from North Korea.{{cite news | author = AP Staff | date=2006-01-16 | title=Pyongyang Awards Medal to American Aid Worker | work = Associated Press News | via = The Guardian | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/16/usa.northkorea|accessdate=2009-01-12 | location=London }}

He died in 2005 after experiencing complications with melanoma surgery.{{cite web|first=Hal|last=Bernton|title=Ellsworth Culver, Mercy Corps executive, dies|year=2005|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20050817/culverobit17m/ellsworth-culver-mercy-corps-executive-dies|newspaper=Seattle Times|access-date=2008-11-09}}

• {{cite journal | author=ABT Staff | date = February 1, 1972 | title= Palo Alto's 'Involvement Corps' | journal = The American Biology Teacher | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | page = 98 | location = San Francisco, CA | publisher = Foundation for National Progress | url=https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-abstract/34/2/98/104401/Natural-Odors-in-Primates | access-date=2025-02-11 | doi = 10.2307/4443820| jstor = 4443820 | url-access = subscription }}
• {{cite web | author=Kristof, Nicholas D. | date = October 12, 1997 | title=Invisible North Korea; Famine Isn't Always What It Seems | work = The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/12/weekinreview/invisible-north-korea-famine-isn-t-always-what-it-seems.html | access-date= 2025-02-11}}
• {{cite news | author= Bernton, Hal | date = August 17, 2005 | title=Ellsworth Culver, Mercy Corps Executive, Dies | format = obituary | newspaper = Seattle Times | page = | url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ellsworth-culver-mercy-corps-executive-dies/ | access-date=2025-02-11 | quote = Ellsworth Culver, the Seattle-born humanitarian who helped shape the Pacific Northwest's Mercy Corps into an aid organization of global...}}
• {{cite news | author= KNE Staff | date = August 17, 2005 | title=Obituaries in the News: Ellsworth Culver| newspaper = Kentucky New Era | page = A2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_OgrAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Ellsworth+Culver%22&pg=PA2&article_id=1459,4200944 | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite journal | author= Rader, Paul A. & Rader, Kay F. | date = January 2008 | title= Our Pilgrimage in Mission | journal = International Bulletin of Mission Research | volume = 32 | issue = 1 | page = 31 | doi = 10.1177/2396939308032001 | doi-broken-date = March 4, 2025 | url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/239693930803200109 | url-access = subscription | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite web | author=Rabey, Steve | date = October 23, 2019 | title=Mercy Corps Rocked by Sexual Abuse Claims Against Founder| work = MinistryWatch.com | url=https://ministrywatch.com/mercy-corps-rocked-by-sexual-abuse-claims-against-founder/ | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite web | author= Peters, Jennifer | date = March 16, 2020 | title=At The Oregonian, No One Is Too Big to Be Questioned| work = NewsMediaAlliance.org | location = | url=https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/oregonian-no-one-too-big-to-be-questioned-no-mercy/ | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite report | author = Freeh Group International Solutions LLC |date= May 19, 2021 |title= Findings of Investigation Into the Actions of Ellsworth Culver Related to Sexual Abuse and the Actions of the 1990s Mercy Corps Board of Directors Related to the Handling of Reports of Sexual Abuse |url= https://www.mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/FGIS-Report-05192021.pdf |url-access= |trans-title= |format= |work= MercyCorps.org |language= en |location= Portland, OR |publisher= Mercy Corps |docket= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= 11 February 2025 |via= |quote=}}{{primary source inline|date=February 2025}}
• {{cite web | author=Baker, Mike | date = 2021-05-19 | title=Deep Regret: Inside Aid Organization Grappling With Sexual Abuse| work = The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/us/mercy-corps-abuse-investigation.html | access-date=2021-05-19}}
• {{cite web | author=Chappell, Peter | date = May 20, 2021 | title=Mercy Corps Founder Ellsworth Culver 'Abused Daughter and Other Girls'| work = The Times | location = London, England | url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/mercy-corps-founder-ellsworth-culver-abused-daughter-and-other-girls-hdpwwwpdz | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite web | author=Dooris, Pat | date = May 20, 2021 | title=Daughter Reacts to Sex Abuse Investigation Into Portland-Based Mercy Corps Co-Founder| work = KGW.com | location = | url=https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/daughter-mercy-corps-co-founder-reacts-sex-abuse-investigation/283-388a95bf-83c6-47e9-8c4e-cd92f34cb04e | access-date=2025-02-11}}
• {{cite book | author=Heathershaw, John | date = 2024 | title= Security After Christendom: Global Politics and Political Theology for Apocalyptic Times | chapter = 5. Security in a Secular Age | page = 5.1ff | location = Eugene, OR | publisher = Wipf and Stock | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWj1EAAAQBAJ | access-date=2025-02-11 | isbn = 9781532615344}}
• {{cite journal | author=Pauly, Madison | date = March–April 2024 | title= 'I Want to Know How Much I Was Used' | journal = Mother Jones | volume = 49 | issue = 2 | location = San Francisco, CA | publisher = Foundation for National Progress | url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA783308101&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=03628841&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Ec2ad73c2&aty=open-web-entry | access-date=2025-02-11 }}

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Category:1927 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:Asbury University alumni

Category:Activists from Portland, Oregon

Category:Recipients of the Order of Friendship (North Korea)

Category:American expatriates in Cuba