Artesia, California — According to his family, Newkirk native and mega church founder Robert H. Schuller has died, at the age of 88.
Schuller’s daughter-in-law, Donna Schuller says he died at a care facility in Artesia, California on Thursday, April 2, 2015.
She says he had been diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer, but had stopped chemotherapy and radiation treatments in February, 2014, after the death of his wife, Arvella, after whom the organ at Northwestern College’s Christ Chapel is named.
Robert Schuller started his ministry in Garden Grove, California in 1955. The ministry would eventually blossom into a television ministry called the “Hour of Power”. He also spearheaded the building of the Crystal Cathedral, which was dedicated in 1980. His message of Jesus and the books that Shuller wrote included his philosophy of “Positive Thinking.”
After some difficulties a few years ago that included a bankruptcy filing, the church was sold to the Orange County Catholic Dioceses, and Schuller’s Son Bobby Schuller now pastors a nearby church, known as Shepherd’s Grove, according to the ministry’s web site.
No word has been received in regard to funeral arrangements.
Here is an interview with Schuller recorded several years ago with the Archive of American Television. In the beginning, Schuller talks about his upbringing.
