Evangelist Billy Graham has died at 99, a family spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press.
The spokesperson said Graham, counselor to Presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died on Wednesday at his home in Montreat, North Carolina.
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The preacher was one of the world’s most famous evangelists and became known as “America’s Pastor” throughout his decades-long career.
President Donald Tribute paid tribute to Graham, calling him “a very special man.”
The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2018
Graham was an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well-known after he began hosting the annual Billy Graham Crusades from 1947 to 2005. He also served as a spiritual advisor to American presidents, providing spiritual counsel for every POTUS from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.
He also hosted a radio show, published dozens of books and wrote a weekly print column that was syndicated in hundreds of papers. To help spread his message, he also founded his own ministry, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Graham has received multiple awards including the Horatio Alger Award, the George Washington Honor Medal, the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1989, he became the first clergyman to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The minister eschewed segregation and brought racial integration to his crusades in 1953, and invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach at a New York City revival in 1957.
As of 2008, Graham’s estimated lifetime audience was over 2.2 billion people, and he has preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone in the history of Christianity. Graham announced his retirement in 2005, delivering his final sermon, titled, “The Cross — Billy Graham’s Message To America.”
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