TV evangelist Oral Roberts dies

By Jim Hagerty
Staff Writer

One of the pioneers of television evangelism, Oral Roberts, has died. According to spokesman, A. Larry Ross, Roberts had fallen at his Newport Beach, Calif., home Saturday, Dec. 12 and was admitted to a hospital. Ross said Roberts died today of complications from pneumonia. He was 91.

Roberts, known as a faith-healer, began his rise to fame in the mid 1950s, preaching to millions of television viewers. By the ’70s, his ministry was a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Roberts was also an educator and author. In 1963, Roberts founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., serving as president for 30 years.

The Oral Roberts Evangelical Association conducted more than 300 healing crusades around the world, while Roberts was a sought-after public speaker at conventions and special events.

Oral Roberts was preceded in death by a daughter, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1977, and a son, who committed suicide in 1982. His wife, Evelyn Roberts, died in 2005. He is survived by two other children, evangelist Richard Roberts and Roberta Potts, an attorney in Tulsa.

Funeral arrangements are pending.