John Tarrant (bishop)

John Thomas Tarrant was an American bishop. He was the tenth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota in The Episcopal Church from 2010 to 2019.

Life and ministry

Tarrant was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 17, 1952, to Robert Clair Newton Tarrant and Letitia Marie Church. He graduated from the Michigan State University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. After studies at Virginia Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Divinity degree in 1983, he was ordained to the diaconate on June 11, 1983, and to the priesthood on February 11, 1984.
Tarrant served as curate of the Church of the Atonement in Westfield, Massachusetts, rector of St Paul's Church in Gardner, Massachusetts, assistant priest at St Paul's Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, missioner at the Greater Waterbury Episcopal Ministry in Middlebury, Connecticut, rector of St Paul's Church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and rector of Trinity Church in Pierre, South Dakota.
In 2009, Tarrant was elected Coadjutor Bishop of South Dakota and was consecrated on October 31, 2009. He succeeded as diocesan bishop on February 2, 2010, retiring in 2019. He died from a heart attack on August 23, 2020, in Dalton, Massachusetts.