Wesley I. Reid was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to the late Reverend and Mrs. Robert H. Reid Sr. His elementary and secondary education was received in the Public School Systems of Kentucky and Tennessee. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio), and his Masters of Divinity degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta, Georgia). He has done post graduate studies in the Vanderbilt School of Theology (Nashville, Tennessee), and the United Theological Seminary (Dayton, Ohio). He is presently a Doctorate of Ministries candidate at the Ashland Seminary (Ashland, Ohio).
Wesley I. Reid has served as the pastor of congregations in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Fayetteville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and has recently retired after 42 years as the pastor of Lee Memorial A.M.E. Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He has distinguished himself in all of these pastorates by increasing memberships, building parsonages, renovating church buildings, and building the new Lee Memorial Worship Center and Administrative Wong. He has established Head Start Programs, Youth Nutritional Programming, Community Feeding Programs, and Retired Seniors Volunteering Programs, and a host of other community projects and programs. He has served on and currently serving on many community boards. Among them are the Neighborhood Centers Board, YMCA Board, P.E.A.C.E. Taskforce, Kathryn Tyler Board, and the United Way Allocations Panel. In addition, he is currently serving as the Director of the Lee Memorial Service Corporation which is responsible for all of the community outreach
Wesley I. Reid also is actively involved in the religious community, by serving on many of its committees and board. He has served on the Compilation Committee, the Revisions Committee, and the General board of the A.M.E. Church, as well as the Race and Justice Commission of the Consultation of Church Union. Currently he is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the 32°Mason, and the NAACP.
Wesley I. Reid is married to the former Kathleen M. Starling, and is the father of two children, Kevin D. Reid (deceased) and Tameaka Reid Sims (Micah). He is the grandfather of two, Joshua and Reiley Marie.