The Revd Roy Martin Deller: 1934-2026
 

​Baptist minister who served for many years alongside wife Margaret with BMS World Mission in Brazil  

The Revd Roy Martin Deller died at home on 1 February 2026. Roy and his wife Margaret served with BMS in Brazil from 1961-1973 and 1985-1993. They have four children, Katie, Tim, Stephen and Philip, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 
  
Roy was born in Grimsby in 1934. After a grammar school education he worked in the Civil Service and did his National Service at RAF Swinderby before going to Spurgeon’s College for theological training. He had known Margaret for several years before they were married in September 1959. They were accepted for overseas mission with BMS in 1960. 
 
After a year in Birmingham, they travelled to Brazil in August 1961 where they had a year of language study before moving to Paraná. Following that they had several church planting placings including Cianorte, Cascavel, and Jacarezinho as well as administrative responsibilities in Curitiba. 
 
They left Brazil in 1972 and came back to the UK, where Roy then worked for the Leprosy Mission and Imperial Cancer Research Fund, while continuing to serve in the local churches. Roy and Margaret offered themselves for a second term of service and returned to Brazil in 1985; Roy taught in Baptist seminaries in Porto Alegre and Curitiba until their return to the UK in 1993.
 
Latterly they spent many years in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and became involved in the local Baptist church and surrounding villages. In 2011 they moved to Humberston in Lincolnshire, close to Grimsby, where they had grown up. Roy and Margaret celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in September 2019.
 
The Thanksgiving Service will be held at the Grimsby Baptist Church, 246-248 Laceby Road, Grimsby, DN34 5DW at 2pm on 18 February 2026. 
 

Mary Deller