Ralph William Franklin
Ralph William Franklin (born January 3, 1947), commonly known as R. William Franklin, was the eleventh Bishop of Western New York in the Episcopal Church between 2011 and 2019. Biography. Franklin was born in on January 3, 1947, in Brookhaven, Mississippi . He graduated with a B.A. from Northwestern University and a PhD in Church History from Harvard University. After ordination, Franklin served as Dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and professor at General Theological Seminary and St John's in Minnesota. Franklin also served some time in Italy as associate priest at St Paul's Within  the Walls in Rome, associate director of the American Academy in Rome, associate priest of the Anglican Centre in Rome and vicar of the Church of the Resurrection in Orvieto. He returned to the United States and was appointed senior associate priest at St Mark's Church in Philadelphia in July 2010. A few months later, on November 20, 2010, Franklin was elected Bishop of Western New York. He was consecrated on April 30, 2011, by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Franklin retired as Bishop of Western New York in April 2019.