Outstanding Leadership in Queens
2014 Honoree of the Queens Federation of Churches

The Reverend Douglas Kurtz

Since leaving the First Presbyterian Church of Batavia, Rev. Kurtz entered the Health Care Administration field. He was a department director at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey. He then moved to the Christian Health Care Center in Wyckoff, NJ where he completed work to become a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator. As a Long Term Care Administrator, Rev. Kurtz has been the Administrator/CEO of six different Nursing Homes representing Proprietary and Non-Proprietary facilities. He became an administrator of a community under the corporate umbrella of the Presbyterian Homes of New Jersey. In that organization he became the Vice President of Operations overseeing four Continuing Care Retirement Communities, six skilled nursing communities and twenty affordable/market rate independent housing communities along with various Assisted Living projects.

In 1999 Rev. Kurtz took the position of President/CEO of United Adult Ministries in New York. As the President/CEO of United Adult Ministries, Rev. Kurtz has restructured this organization from a near bankrupt status to a fiscally strong organization serving the needs of older adults throughout the five boroughs of New York City and Long Island. United Adult Ministries serves the Churches of the Presbytery of New York City, Presbytery of Long Island and the Reformed Church Synod of New York. United Adult Ministries is currently serving more than 2,500 clients with services from housing to personal emergency response services.

Nationally Mr. Kurtz serves on the board of Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, and is Past President of the Board. He is also the Vice Chairman of the National Institute of Senior Housing and is on the Leadership Council of the National Council of Aging. He is a member of the Presbyterian Association of Homes and Services for the Aged. On the state level he has served on various committees with regard to Assisted Living and Nursing Homes. Rev. Kurtz has been President of the Northern Regional Ethics Committee, a Director of the Bergen County Coalition of Concerned Nursing Home Administrators, Health Care Planning Board of the Community Resource Council, as well as various other community and professional organizations.

Since 1988 Rev. Kurtz has served as Stated Supply Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Fords, New Jersey. Rev. Kurtz lives with his wife, Mary Jo, and their Golden Retriever, Madison, in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, a town in northern New Jersey 20 miles from the George Washington Bridge which he crosses every business day to his office in Flushing, New York, about a mile from the US Tennis Center, Citi Field and LaGuardia Airport.

Prior to his career in heath care, Rev. Kurtz served as a pastor in churches in New England and Western New York. As a Pastor, he led his congregations and colleagues in programs geared directly to meeting the needs of the community in which he served. He has served as President of the Council of Churches, Advisor to the Office on Aging and various committees in conjunction with the local hospitals. Earlier in life, he achieved the status of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America!

Rev. Kurtz received his Bachelors Degree from Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania, his Master’s from Gordon Conwell in Massachusetts, and has taken Doctoral level courses in Non-Profit Administration at McCormick in Chicago. He holds Nursing Home Administrator’s licenses in both New Jersey and New York.