Jerry Falwell dead at 73
Jerry Falwell Dies After Falling Unconscious in His Office
Tuesday , May 15, 2007
RICHMOND, Virginia —
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a prominent conservative televangelist who founded a movement that helped mold the religious right into a political power, died Tuesday, his aide said. He was 73.
Falwell was found unconscious in his office, said Ron Godwin, the executive vice president for Liberty University, which was founded by Falwell.
He was pronounced dead at 12:40 ET p.m. at Lynchburg General Hospital, according to Carl Moore, his personal physician.
"He was found with out pulse and never regained pulse," Moore said. "It’s a little too early to speculate. … Without a pulse, we cannot revive anyone. Very aggressive efforts were made."
Falwell was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. after he missed an appointment, and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."
Moore said he died of a cardiac rhythmic abnormality.
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."
A message left by The Associated Press for Falwell's son, Jerry Falwell Jr., was not immediately returned.
Falwell, a television evangelist, founded the Moral Majority in 1979. He used the conservative Christian movement to mold the religious right into a political power and he became the face of the religious right in the 1980s.
Falwell later founded the conservative Liberty University and serves as its president.
He survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest.
Originally Posted by Kanaric
