|
Here are few notable deaths of 2008, in chronological order.
Archbishop Christodoulos, spiritual leader of Greece’s Orthodox Church, died Jan. 28 of cancer. He was 69. Christodoulos’ had served as archbishop since 1998, and his decade of leadership brought improved relations between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
Ruth Stafford Peale, the co-founder of the inspirational magazine Guideposts and widow of author and minister Norman Vincent Peale, died Feb. 6 at her home in Pawling, N.Y. She was 101. She helped found the Guideposts organization in 1945. Guidepost Magazine now has a paid circulation of 2.5 million. Ruth Stafford Peale was a high school math teacher before she married her husband, who soon became the pastor of New York’s Marble Collegiate Church, where he served for 52 years. When he died in 1993, they had been married for 63 years. Ruth Peale was also served for more than 50 years on the board of the American Bible Society.
William F. Buckley, founder of National Review magazine and a leading figure in conservatism during the last half of the 20th century, died Feb. 27. He was 82. Buckley’s pioneering work, including his first book, God and Man at Yale (1951), and his launching of the National Review in 1955, are considered important moments in the founding of the modern conservative movement. For many years Buckley’s program, ‘Firing Line,’ was almost the only conservative show on TV. Tributes to Buckley began within hours of his death. President George W. Bush said, “America has lost one of its finest writers and thinkers.”
Maria Chapman, daughter of Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman, died in a car accident on May 21. Maria was accidentally hit by her 17-year-old brother, Will Franklin, after she ran into the path of his SUV in their driveway. Will Franklin said his faith has sustained him. “It’s been really hard,” he said. “I’ve gotten a stronger faith through all of this, but there’s those days that just hit you. … You’ve got to continue to choose to live. That’s the faith that continues to keep me going.” Steven Curtis Chapman said his family still has a lot of questions. “But that’s what faith is,” he said. “It’s living with the questions. “I have to continue these chapters that are still being written. We need to keep living these moments.”
Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who spent 30 years in the Senate defending marriage, preborn babies and school prayer, died July 4. He was 86. President George W. Bush called the senator a “fearless defender of a culture of life.” Helms earned the nickname “Senator No” because of his opposition to Democratic measures. “Jesse Helms was a kind, decent and humble man, and a passionate defender of what he called ‘the Miracle of America,’” Bush said. “So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July.
John M. Templeton, whose innovative investment strategies made him one of the world’s richest men and whose richest allowed him to be an equally innovative philanthropist, died on July 8. He was 95. Templeton’s life, career, and theology defied easy characterization. He was born in 1912 into a poor and poorly educated Presbyterian household in rural Tennessee. He became the first person in his family to graduate from college, supporting himself with odd jobs while studying enough to finish near the top of his class at Yale. From there, he earned a law degree at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship, and then came straightway to Wall Street, beginning a career there just as the country was emerging from the Great Depression. In 1939, with war on the horizon and the wounds of the Depression still raw, he borrowed $10,000 and bought 100 shares of stock in 104 companies that were then trading at $1 a share or less. By the end of the war, he was a wealthy man. Templeton’s theology and philanthropy were likewise idiosyncratic. The main instrument of his philanthropy was his own John Templeton Foundation, best known for its Templeton Prize for “progress in religion.” The prize has gone to evangelical leaders such as Bill Bright, Chuck Colson, and Billy Graham, but also to an eclectic assortment of Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus.
Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator, and former press secretary for President Bush, died July 12 of colon cancer. He was 53. “America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character,” Bush said. “It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace and a great love of country to his work.” Chuck Donovan, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, recalled Snow’s speech at the 2006 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. “He knew, appreciated and communicated how lucky he was to have been born in the U.S. of A., grown up in the Midwest, and been given a chance to work in hallways and places he had dreamed of as a kid,” he said. “That youthfulness, and the bedrock values that fueled him, never faded, whether at the peak of his success or in the throes of his illness. He will be greatly missed."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the oldest living Nobel laureate, died in his home near Moscow Sunday, Aug. 3. He was 89. The BBC reported the cause of death as either a stroke or the result of heart failure. BBC also reported that the well known Russian intellectual had recently been suffering from high blood pressure. Solzhenitsyn is best remembered for literary works that exposed the corruption of the Russian government under the rule of Josef Stalin. Solzhenitsyn served as an artillery officer in World War II for the Soviet Union but was imprisoned for eight years in a gulag, a Soviet prison, for writing a letter containing critical remarks of the country’s communist dictator, Josef Stalin. Solzhenitsyn’s most famous works, including “The Gulag Archipelago” and “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, were a product of Solzhenitsyn’s experience as a Soviet prisoner. “The Gulag Archipelago” is a massive and detailed account of systematic soviet abuses which was written in secrecy in the Soviet Union then later published in Paris. “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is a description of the life of a Gulag prisoner. His other prominent works include, “The First Circle” and “Cancer Ward” which brought him fame worldwide and the Nobel Literature Prize in 1970. In 1978 Solzhenitsyn spoke at the 327th commencement Harvard, in which he strongly criticized the pursuit of wealth the West was plagued by.
Dr. Sherwood Eliot Wirt, the founding editor of Decision magazine who later launched the San Diego Christian Writers Guild, passed away in his sleep Nov. 8. He was 97. Wirt died outside of Seattle where he and his wife, Ruth, relocated about seven years ago. For the past few years he lived in an assisted-care facility. A memorial service was held Dec. 5 in Bellevue. Wirt served as founding editor of Decision magazine, which was launched in the 1960s. Wirt guided the magazine as it reached a circulation of four million. In that role, Wirt traveled with Graham extensively over two decades, eventually penning “Billy: A Personal Look at Billy Graham,” one of 42 books he authored. His books have been translated into eight languages. In addition to his wife, Ruth, Wirt is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Alex and Gina, and two grandchildren, Bree and Tyler.
Henry Brandt, acknowledged by many as the “Father of Modern-Day Biblical Counseling” died Nov. 24 from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 92. For over five decades, Brandt — international consultant, educator, counselor, author, and conference speaker — impacted the lives of countless people. He wrote numerous books including the classic, The Heart of the Problem, as well as his soon-to-be-released, Soul Prescription, which he co-authored with the late Bill Bright. He hosted a popular family radio program which aired over the Moody Bible Institute's station WMBI from 1961 to 1971.
Paul Weyrich, co-founder and former president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, died Dec. 18. He was 66. His death was announced by the Heritage Foundation, in a two-line statement that did not give the cause of death, but Lee Edwards, a foundation scholar and friend, said Weyrich had suffered from ill health in recent years and had both legs amputated. Gary Bauer, president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families called Weyrich a “larger than life figure in the conservative movement.” He is survived by his wife, Joyce, five children and several grandchildren.
Compiled By Warren Cole Smith, EP news and the Christian Examiner staff
|
|
