Samuel William Schmitthenner (February 23, 1928 – May 17, 2015) was a Lutheran who served as the President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India from 1969 to 1981.
S. W. Schmitthenner initially served as a missionary to India from 1952 onwards.
[3] S. W. Schmitthenner studied at the Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu and in 1944[1] moved on to Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he earned a graduate degree in 1948.
[1] While serving as a Pastor of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society in Andhra Pradesh, India from 1952[1] onwards, Schmitthenner returned twice to America to upgrade his academics.
In 1958-1959[1] he attended the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford, Connecticut, and again in 1966[1] he joined the University of Pennsylvania for studying Indian Sociology.