A memorial service was held May 21 at St. John Lutheran Church, Union City, for the Reverend Horst Gerhardt “Gary” Kugler, 76. He died May 15 at Hackensack Medical Center. Born in Somerville, the son of Reverend Heinz W. Kugler and Dore M. Dittmann Kugler, he attended public schools in Elizabeth. He was a graduate of Rutgers University, Temple University, and The Lutheran Seminary of Philadelphia.
He was ordained and installed as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Union City, in 1966 and faithfully served the congregation for 49 years until his death. His ministry reached well beyond his congregation to those in the community who brought him their housing, food, and health needs. Early in his ministry, in cooperation with the Community Action Program of North Hudson, Pastor Kugler and St. John Church welcomed a pre-natal clinic into the church. With the mass influx of Cuban refugees in 1980, Pastor Kugler began the work of the St. John Homeless Shelter in the fellowship hall, later to be reorganized and relocated as the Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation.
Reverend Kugler was an active member of the Hispanic Pastors Association of Hudson County, the Family Policy Council of New Jersey, and the Hudson Cluster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is survived by his daughter Greta of Hawaii, Christa of Ohio, and Susanna and Joanna of West Milford. He is also survived by three sisters, Margaret of Orange Park, Florida, Eva of Florida, N.Y., and Dorothea of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., as well as many nieces and nephews, cousins, and other relatives in the United States and Germany. Services arranged by the Aloia Funeral Home, Garfield.