Pastor Mark E. Blue was born in the City of Buffalo. He joined the United States Air Force Reserve in 1983 and retired in 2003 with the rank of Master Sergeant. During the time of his military service, Blue was employed at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station – 914th Tactical Airlift Group as an Aircraft Propulsion Technician. While employed at the Reserve Base, he also served as a Base Equal Opportunity Employment Counselor and served on the Air Force Reserve Base Human Resource Development Council.
Pastor Blue was called to the pastorate of Second Baptist Church of Lackawanna New York on November 27, 2001. In October 2012, Pastor Blue was elevated to serve as the President of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Buffalo and Vicinity, where he is dedicated to the working with pastors and ministers across Western New York. He is also very active in the Lackawanna Ministerial Alliance. He received the Buffalo Citizenship Award for his dedicated work in the community, and he also received the Key to the City of Lackawanna.
Also, in 2012, Pastor Blue was appointed as the President of the Board of Directors of the Lackawanna Chambers of Commerce; a historical event, as he is the first African American to hold the presidency position within the Lackawanna Chamber. Pastor Blue also served on the Overall Policy Committee Chairperson of Head Start program and on the Community Action Organization of Erie County Board.
In October 2016, Pastor Blue was voted in as the President of the Buffalo Branch National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP), subscribing as a Gold Life member. He is currently in his second term as the branch president. In this capacity, Pastor Blue serves on the Erie County Industrial Development Board, the President Advisory Committee of Buffalo State College, the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc. in July 2020 was appointed as a commissioner on the Board of the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority, Appointed by Governor to lead the Vaccine Health Equity Vaccination taskforce for Western New York, and in May of 2021 appointed to the Board of the ECMC and member of the Men In Action Group in Lackawanna NY.
Pastor Blue is the Co-Chair of the Tops May 5-14 massacre survivors fund.
The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
