Mark Luzerne Tidd

Mark Luzerne Tidd passed away peacefully on February 22, 2025.

Mark was born on May 8th 1955 in Honolulu as the eldest son of Emmett and Margaret “Muggs” Tidd. Mark and his brother, Kurt, were destined to follow their father’s distinguished career in the Navy. Most notably, the three of them were promoted to serve as flag officers and accrued nine stars signifying their respective retirement ranks of Admiral, Vice Admiral, and Rear Admiral.

Prior to Mark’s ordination as a Presbyterian minister and service as a Navy chaplain, he was involved in youth ministry with Young Life, a valued Christian parachurch organization focused on youth outreach. He participated in Young Life at his high school in Northern Virginia in the early 1970s. Even though Mark grew up in the church, he discovered that Young Life offered the Gospel message in a context that was refreshingly different yet warmly complementary to Sunday morning worship.

Before entering seminary, Mark spent two summers during his college years on staff at Young Life’s wilderness camp in the Adirondack mountains. Soon thereafter, he met his future bride, Jennifer, as they served together in Colorado Springs at Young Life’s outreach ministry, The Dale House Project, focused toward alienated youth and runaways.

A year after completing their ministry at Dale House, the Tidd’s moved to Pasadena, California, where Mark studied fulltime at Fuller Theological Seminary and received a master of divinity degree, followed by ordination in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Mark then commenced what expanded to over thirty years of ministry as a Navy chaplain culminating in his appointment to Rear Admiral. As Chief of Navy Chaplains, Mark oversaw and supported over 1,100 chaplains serving afloat and ashore in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard. Prior to this assignment, Mark served as Chaplain of the Marine Corps where he provided executive oversite to over 250 chaplains assigned to Marine Corps commands around the world. Earlier significant assignments included Senior Chaplain, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany, where Mark advised on the impact of various religions toward reducing conflict and also engaged with civilian religious leaders and military chaplains throughout Europe and Africa. His notable combat assignments included Division Chaplain of 2nd Marine Division. While in Ramadi, Iraq, Mark provided direct support, pastoral care, and mentoring to chaplains attached to combat units. He also served as Fleet Chaplain, U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001. In addition to his underway assignments aboard the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) and USS REEVES (CG-24), Mark deployed to Saudi Arabia during combat operations throughout Operation Desert Storm and ministered as a Battalion Chaplain with 2nd Marine Division.

While the focus of his Navy chaplaincy was toward active-duty Sailors and Marines, military families always remained a deep concern to him due to the nature of the armed forces as a transient, arduous, and frequently turbulent environment. Mark’s theological insight, deep experience as a chaplain, and personal experience with Young Life provided a rich background and awareness of the challenges faced by military families. Additionally, as parents of two children, Mark and Jennifer were professionally and personally motivated toward finding quality youth ministry throughout their dozen moves, including three overseas assignments. The fact that their two children each attended three different high schools was not uncommon.

Because Mark was well known as an avid supporter of ministry among teens, it came as no surprise that upon the occasion of his Navy retirement, he was soon invited to serve on the board of directors of Military Community Youth Ministries (MCYM), an organization that has partnered with Young Life for over forty years providing youth ministry to the teenagers of military families.

In summary, Mark’s lifelong commitment to teens and their spiritual care was a singular thread that developed through his early years with Young Life, followed by his incredibly successful career as a Navy chaplain culminating in his Presidential appointment as Chief of Navy Chaplains. This singular thread remained steadfast throughout Mark’s post-career ministry with MCYM.

Mark loved to reflect on conversations and process his thoughts. Those who knew him best remember how often he would respond to our suggestions with a lively half-smile followed by the one-word sentence: “interesting.” Throughout his life, he continued to embody these “interesting” conversations through his laudable and well-respected leadership. He invited us to experience the joy of becoming ministry teams that resulted in meaningful, positive, and caring relationships throughout the Department of the Navy as well as Young Life and MCYM.

In addition to Rev. Dr. Tidd’s M.Div. degree from Fuller, his educational achievements include a D.Min. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a Th.M. in Practical Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, an M.S. in National Security Strategy, National War College, Washington, D.C. and a B.A. in Religion, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

Mark is survived by his wife Jennifer, their children Michael (wife Brittany) and Carol Hagan (husband Nate); and grandchildren Emmett, Owen, and Evan; his brother Kurt (wife Eileen), and their children Kathryn and Jacquelyn.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to the Military Community Youth Ministries in Mark’s honor to continue the ministry that was so dear to him.

Please contact Mark’s daughter, Carol Hagan at catidd@gmail.com if you would like information on his memorial service.

Military Community Youth Ministries