Don Fado, Sacramento pastor who championed LGBTQ rights, homeless, dies at 91
The Rev. Donald H. Fado, the longtime Sacramento-area United Methodist pastor who championed LGBTQ rights and dignity for the capital region’s homeless during a lifetime of social activism, died July 17. He was 91.
A cause of death was not disclosed. Fado remained active as a guest pastor. He delivered his final sermon days before his death, in typical fashion, without notes.
For years, Fado led Sacramento’s St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, before retiring in 2001. Fado dedicated the next quarter-century to feeding the city’s hungry and finding refuge for its unhoused through Sacramento Loaves & Fishes and the family shelter, Family Promise of Sacramento.
“There’s a huge amount of need. Don didn’t want people to be blind to that,” said longtime family friend and parishioner Karen Humphrey. “Don made you feel a connection with a larger spiritual reality. He wove the connection between Christian belief and social justice and why we have a chance to practice that in the world.”
The pastor, Humphrey said, was constantly “working for a better world.”
He marched with the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and rallied for the rights of farmworkers. In January 1999, Fado defied United Methodist Church dictate when he blessed the holy union of a lesbian Sacramento couple, both parishioners and leaders at St. Mark’s, in what became a pivotal moment for the United Methodist Church and the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights.
“Here we are, a church that says that gays and lesbians have full rights in our church. That’s part of our discipline,” Fado later told the PBS investigative documentary series “Frontline.” “And then we can’t use their church building for a holy union, and they cannot have their pastors offer prayer for them at a holy union. To me, that is immoral and wrong.”
Fado’s decision could have been career-ending. United Methodist ministers of that time who performed the unions of their gay and lesbian parishioners faced threat of church charges, trial and, potentially, losing their ministries.
Instead, Fado gathered 95 active and retired United Methodist pastors who stood up to protests and church law in support of the couple’s union. Another 25 clergy from other denominations joined in solidarity.
The following month, San Francisco leaders proclaimed Feb. 11, 1999, as Rev. Don Fado Day in the city in recognition of his “outstanding commitment to service and dedication to improving the lives of all citizens.”
“It wasn’t a recent decision. I made the decision at the beginning of my ministry,” Fado said in the “Frontline” interview. “I made a commitment to be a pastor to all the people, and to serve my congregation. This is my calling in ministry — to serve the world — not just the congregation.”
That ethos of inclusion was deeply felt, guiding Fado’s life and work, celebrated with his passing.
“He really felt the ugliest word was ‘exclusion,’” said daughter Patty Fado of Sacramento. “Remember his loving nature and pay it forward — that’s the celebration. We should all care that much about each other. He was a good man.”
Donald Fado was born Dec. 8, 1933, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and raised in Redding where his family moved when he was a child. In Northern California, Fado found the ministry and a lifetime calling to serve. He was active in Boys’ State, the summer high school leadership program; and as a youth minister in the United Methodist Church.
“He felt a call — a call to do good,” Humphrey said.
Fado went on to study at then-College of the Pacific in Stockton, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and met his future wife, the former Jean Durham. He was the college’s student body president. She was Pacific’s rising opera star.
Together, they were inseparable.
“He just fell for her,” said Patty Fado, who also recalled a recent conversation. She asked her father to share what people may not know about her mother.
“He said, ‘Her deep faith. She is my rock,” according to Fado. “They were a team. He would say he is who he is because of my mom.”
They were married 69 years and had four children. One, Donna Fado Ivery, followed her father into the ministry.
Fado earned his master’s degree in divinity at Boston University’s School of Theology then returned to California’s Central Valley, his ministry and activism finding root in Fresno.
He led several congregations there including Fresno Wesley United Methodist Church. Fresno Wesley was groundbreaking as one of the church’s first “reconciling congregations,” ones that welcomed all regardless of race, sexual and gender identity, nationality or economic status.
Fado later became a founding national co-chair of the Reconciling Ministries Clergy of the United Methodist Church, with its mission of full participation for LGBTQ people in church life and leadership.
Fado was “a pioneer and changemaker,” remembered Bishop Sandra K. Olewine of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, in a letter to the faithful announcing Fado’s passing. “His legacy is rooted in his deep faith and love for all people.”
After retiring from St. Mark’s, Fado’s later legacy was in his work providing support and shelter for Sacramento’s homeless.
“He was really a champion for the guests of Loaves & Fishes, but also the staff who were dealing with the very grueling aspects of homelessness,” said Angela Hassell, executive director of Loaves & Fishes. “He did his work quietly. It was done without a sense of ego but because it was the right thing to do. He was really an example of a servant’s heart.”
Fado served on the boards of both Loaves & Fishes and Family Promise, and was instrumental in bringing the New Jersey-based Family Promise to the state capital, but Family Promise of Sacramento director Marsha Spell said Fado did much more. He answered phones and helped take in incoming families. He conducted marriage ceremonies for more than one couple and counseled others.
“Don would get in his car and take people to work. He went more than the extra mile to get people back on their feet,” Spell said.
“He worked diligently to get it off the ground ... but he was more than the instrument to get us up and running. He did it all,” Spell continued. “He wanted to do what he was able to do until the very last day — and he did that.”
Fado is survived by his wife, Jean; their four children, Sue Addington (Ron) of Sacramento, Donna Fado Ivery (Hubert) of Richmond, Patty Fado of Sacramento and David Fado (Kelly) of Arlington, Virginia; 11 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and sisters Barbara Pierce of Redding and Sandy Pearson (Bill) of Napa.
A memorial service will be held Aug. 16 at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 2391 St. Mark’s Way in Arden Arcade. The Rev. Dr. Mahsea Evans will preside. The service will also be live-streamed.
Gifts in memoriam can be given to Sacramento Loaves & Fishes or Family Promise of Sacramento.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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