The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, California televangelist and founder of the television ministry the “Hour of Power,” died Thursday, according to his family.
He was 88 years old.
Schuller, also the founder of Crystal Cathedral mega-church, had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer in August 2013, a release from “Hour of Power” said.
“My father-in-law passed away peacefully early this morning. He was a great Dad and a great man of God,” said Schuller’s daughter-in-law, Donna Schuller, in a Twitter message.
Schuller built his ministry from humble beginnings into a multimillion-dollar empire with a vast TV audience until financial troubles led the church to declare bankruptcy in 2010. Schuller was ousted from the Crystal Cathedral’s board in 2011, a year before the cathedral was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, California.
Schuller founded his church in 1955 as part of the Reformed Church in America.
The gleaming glass cathedral in Garden Grove was built in 1981. It still hosts the weekly “Hour of Power” telecast that beamed Schuller’s smiling face and folksy preaching into American homes for more than three decades. The church has said the show boasts a worldwide audience of more than 20 million viewers.