Evangelist Oral Roberts dead at 91
 

(CNN) -- Evangelist Oral Roberts, founder of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University, died Tuesday from complications of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California, his spokeswoman said. He was 91.

Roberts' son, Richard, and daughter Roberta were at his side, spokeswoman Melany Ethridge said in a statement.

Roberts was hospitalized Monday following a fall on Saturday, in which he suffered broken bones, Ethridge said earlier, adding he was being treated for pneumonia.

There will be a private interment, the statement said. Arrangements for a public memorial service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are pending.

Granville Oral Roberts was born into poverty in Bebee, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1918, according to a brief biography released by Ethridge. His Christian ministry began with what he described as his own miracle healing of tuberculosis at age 17.

Roberts pastored churches in Oklahoma and Georgia and preached at revivals around the country while studying at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University in Oklahoma, according to the biography.

In 1947, he founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in Tulsa, "and began conducting crusades across America and around the world, attracting crowds of thousands -- many who were sick and dying and in search of healing," the biography said. "Through the years, he conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents" and "laid hands" on an estimated 2 million people, according to association officials.

In 1954, he brought television cameras into services, providing what he liked to call a "front-row seat to miracles" to viewers, the biography said. He later began a television program, initially called "Oral Roberts Presents." The ministry's daily program, now called "The Place for Miracles," can be seen on more than 100 television stations, multiple cable and satellite networks and the Internet, Ethridge said.

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He finally got called home.

My father has a great story about Roberts.

Supposedly, there was some big party having to do with a new interstate project or something back in the late 70's when my father was General Counsel to the Oklahoma Department of Highways. Roberts was one of the dignitaries in attendance -- there to see and be seen. Roberts had a couple of hand warmers in his pockets and was mingling through the crowd placing his hot hands on the folks who were in attendance.. guess that was part of his shtick. At any rate, he got to my father and placed his hand on his shoulder. My father, who had probably had a few too many, exclaimed "You just cured my hemorrhoids!" Fortunately, Roberts thought that was hilarious.

I think that the GCspambot picked some really interesting ads for this one! Miracle healing and Jezebel spirits?! Priceless!

Honestly, I had no idea he was still alive.

I'm with you. I thought he died a year or two ago. Didn't he have Alzheimer's disease?

Same here

Wooooow. Bye.

This may sound horrible, but I couldn't help but think, "oh, gosh, that leaves Billy Graham." That will be a death full of tributes - but I hope it's not for a long time!

So..... if so many of us thought Oral Roberts was already dead, does that mean we were always confusing him with someone else, or was he out of the public eye for so long that we thought he was dead?

The latter for me. I had no idea he was from this era, really. Didn't realize the University was that young. In other words, I had no idea who the guy was, other than a religious guy who founded a University. Maybe because he's a southern evangelist/baptist, and that's not really our cup of tea in general in the Pacific Northwest.

Pretty much. I knew the name, knew of the school, assumed he was already deceased.

I think I might have been getting him confused for someone else? I'm not sure. But I definitely thought he had already passed away.

Basically if you have never known a world without cable tv, it's entirely possible you've passed right on by Oral Roberts. I was going to mention Rex Humbard but I'm REALLY showing my age with that one.

Pretty much. I grew up in the Bible Belt, so although I'm pretty young, I know who he is. My parents don't like televangelism whatsoever, but it's pretty hard to escape when that was ALL of what was on TV back in the early to mid 80s.

I guess he's finally gone to see that 900-foot-tall Jesus.

Ugh. That guy.

(I'm really too young, but a more-than-passing acquaintance with good-ol Oral is just one of the joys of growing up in OK)