Televangelist Robert H. Schuller, Dies at 88

Televangelist and founder of Crystal Cathedral Ministries Robert H. Schuller, who drew millions of followers to his “Hour of Power” broadcasts, has died at 88.

The founder of a megachurch in Southern California who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2013 went off chemotherapy or radiation treatments after his wife, Arvella Schuller, died in February 2014.

At his peak, Robert Schuller was one of the most influential preachers in the country. But his ministry began to crumble under financial pressure after his retirement in 2006. The $18 million Crystal Cathedral with 10,000 panels of glass held 2,890 people. At one point, his congregation was estimated to have had a membership of 10,000 under his leadership.

Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a congregation of the Reformed Church in America founded in 1955, was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for $57.5 million in February 2012. The cathedral, which has glass walls and ceiling, is now called Christ Cathedral.

Schuller’s “Hour of Power” radio program, which is now continued by his grandson, was filmed in the cathedral’s main sanctuary, and at one pointattracted 1.3 million viewers in 156 countries. Church attendees could sit in the parking lot at the church and listen to his sermons like a drive-in movie theater.

Schuller was influenced by the late Norman Vincent Peale, the minister known for his motivational preaching. Schuller was known for his preaching on the power of positive thinking, criticized by some as being focused too heavily on emotional needs and self-esteem.

His daughter-in-law Donna Schuller said that the idea of Robert Schuller’s passing during the week leading up to Easter would be a fitting exit. “He always did everything in a grand fashion,” she told the Orange County Register. “It’s just like him.”

A funeral service will be held for Crystal Cathedral founder Robert Schuller this month at the church his family made famous, a family representative said.

The service will be held April 20 at 10 a.m. at the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove -- formerly Crystal Cathedral.

Carol Schuller Milner, Schuller's daughter, said the public service will be held in the plaza "encircled by the four architectural structures built during Dr. Schuller's years of leadership: the Crystal Cathedral, the Arboretum, the Tower of Hope" and the Richard Meier visitor's center.

The closed-casket service will be followed by a procession to the Memorial Gardens, where Schuller will be buried next to his wife, Arvella. Schuller Milner said that although the burial ceremony will be private, the public will be able to view it from outside the garden.

The service will be led by Dan Chun, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu and a friend of Schuller.

Schuller died Thursday at age 88 at a care facility in Artesia. He had esophageal cancer.