GERLACH, (KARL FRIEDRICH) OTTO VON

born April 12, 1801, Berlin died Oct. 24, 1849, Berlin Prussian Lutheran theologian and educator, younger brother of Leopold and Ludwig von Gerlach. Educated at Berlin, Heidelberg, and Gttingen, he began lecturing at the University of Berlin in 1828; in 1834 he became pastor at the new St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin's working-class district and brought a new kind of pastoral social work into the homes of the people. Eventually he became a court preacher and a regular professor at the university.