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Christian televangelist Robert Schuller, best known for the Sunday morning 

 telecast he hosted for decades from his Crystal Cathedral megachurch in California, has died at 88.
Schuller's daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, and grandson, Rev. Bobby Schuller, announced the news on Twitter. Bobby Schuller, who has taken over as host of a scaled-back 

, said today that his grandfather "passed this morning into eternal life with Christ."
Carol Schuller Milner was 

 as saying her father died early Thursday at a care facility in Artesia, Calif.
The elder Rev. Schuller 

 reports that he ceased chemotherapy after the death of his wife, Arvella, in February 2014.
Schuller launched 

 in 1970 with what the AP describes as "upbeat messages on faith and redemption" but watched his empire collapse in his waning years, with the towering, glass-ensconced Crystal Cathedral, situated on 40 acres in Garden Grove, Calif., 

purchased the following year by the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Orange

 peak in the 1990s, it had 20 million viewers in 180 countries, the AP says.


NPR's Tom Gjelten says Schuller "was a compelling speaker with a positive message, and he reached out to Christians of all denominations. At the suggestion of Billy Graham, [he] began televising his services."


In 2013, a lawsuit was filed by creditors against several members of Schuller's family, alleging that "the older Schuller and his family members used their power and position to give themselves generous salaries, 

and other benefits while the church struggled financially," 

Religion and Faith

The pastor who built his church from nothing in the 1960s also launched the Hour of Power broadcast a decade later.

Megachurch founder, televangelist Robert Schuller dies at 88

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