Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart Dies at 90 After Cardiac Arrest
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Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose fiery sermons once drew a global audience, died Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at the age of 90, according to statements from his family and Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. He had been hospitalised in critical condition since suffering cardiac arrest at his home on 15 June.
A Pentecostal preacher and accomplished gospel pianist, Swaggart became one of the most recognisable figures in American religious broadcasting during the 1970s and 1980s. His weekly programmes from the Family Worship Center were carried to more than 100 countries and, at their height in 1986, helped generate an estimated $142 million a year for his ministry. He recorded about 17 million gospel albums and in 2010 launched the SonLife Broadcasting Network to extend his reach.
Swaggart’s career was severely damaged by a string of sex scandals. Photographs showing him with a prostitute in 1988 prompted a tearful on-air apology—“I have sinned”—and led the Assemblies of God to strip him of his ministerial credentials. A second incident involving another sex worker in 1991 deepened the fallout, shrinking both his audience and revenues, although he continued preaching in Baton Rouge for the rest of his life.
He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Frances, their son Donnie, three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were not immediately disclosed.
Pioneering televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, one of the first preachers to bring his ministry to a massive television audience, has died at 90 after being hospitalized for two weeks, a family representative says.
The Louisiana native was best known for being a captivating Pentecostal preacher with a massive following before being caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, one of a string of successful TV preachers brought down in the 1980s and '90s by sex scandals.
#BREAKING: Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who became a household name amassing an enormous following and multimillion-dollar ministry only to be undone by his penchant for prostitutes, has died.
