Evangelist and author Oral Roberts, who rose from tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar organization and an Oklahoma university bearing his name, died earlier this week. The founder of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University (ORU) was 91.

Family spokesman A. Larry Ross said that Roberts died Tuesday, Dec. 15 of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif. Roberts had been hospitalized after a fall on Saturday, Dec. 12. He had survived two heart attacks in the 1990s and a broken hip in 2006, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

One of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century, Roberts wrote more than 130 books, including If You Need Healing, Do These Things (Healing Waters Inc., 1952); The Fourth Man (Oral Roberts Association, 1960); The Call: An Autobiography (Doubleday & Company, 1972); Expect A Miracle, My Life and Ministry (Thomas Nelson, 1998); and When You See The Invisible, You Can Do The Impossible (Destiny Image Publishers, 2005). The Miracle of Seed Faith (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977) has more than 8 million copies in circulation, the AP reported.

"Chancellor Roberts was one of the brilliant spiritual lights of the 20th century and a giant of the Christian faith," ORU President Mark Rutland said. "Like millions worldwide, I am mourning his passing and am grateful for his visionary life and contributions."

Roberts overcame tuberculosis at age 17, and credited that healing with leading him to become one of the country's most famous ministers, the AP reported. By the 1960s and '70s, the Oklahoma-born Roberts was reaching millions around the world through broadcasting, publications and personal appearances. Chartered in 1963, ORU became a Tulsa, Okla., landmark.

Roberts is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Lindsay Roberts, a daughter and son-in-law, Roberta and Ronald Potts, as well as 12 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

A public memorial service is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 21 at the Mabee Center on the campus of ORU.

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