NDSU sociology professor emeritus Rev. William “Bill” Sherman died May 4 at age 94. He lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Sherman taught Sociology of Religion and Sociology of the Great Plains during his time at NDSU.

He was a prominent area religious leader, serving as a priest of the Diocese of Fargo and NDSU’s St. Paul’s Newman Center. But, perhaps he is best known as former pastor of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Grand Forks.

In 2012, Sherman donated a large collection of photographs and documents to the NDSU Libraries’ Germans from Russia Heritage Collection. The collection encompasses more than 13,000 color and photographs, negatives, slides, floorplans and site survey documents that detail houses, barns, sheds and agricultural structures located in the Northern Plains and Ukraine.

Sherman earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota; Master of Divinity at St. John’s Seminary; and master’s degree in sociology at the University of North Dakota.