[2] He pursued advanced study at Sweden's Uppsala University, serving as personal secretary to Swedish Archbishop Nathan Söderblom during the Stockholm Conference on Life and Work in 1925.
He saw the college through the difficult years of the Great Depression, through its separation from Augustana Theological Seminary in 1948, and into a long period of substantial growth and increasing prestige.
[1] Among his most notable achievements was the ecumenical spirit he engendered in American Lutherans from the late 1930s going forward.
[3] In recognition for his work, Bergendoff received six honorary doctorates throughout his life, including one from Sweden's Uppsala University.
[5] As a young pastor in Chicago he met and married Gertrude Elizabeth Carlson of Rockford, Illinois, the daughter of Swedish immigrants.