'America's Pastor' Billy Graham Passes Away At The Age Of 99

Reverend Billy Graham passed away at 99-years-old at 8am on Wednesday at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, according to Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. In addition to doing sermons which were broadcast on the radio and on television, Billy also was a spiritual adviser to American presidents and has been toted “America’s pastor.”

Born November 7, 1918, Billy became a pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle while in college, after becoming a Christian after hearing a traveling evangelist. He was ordained a minister in 1939.

Billy has reportedly given a sermon to 210 million people over his 60 years of preaching, with his first crusade being in Los Angeles, CA.

In 1989, Billy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and his final crusade was in 2005 in New York. It drew a crowd of over 200,000 people, with nearly 9,000 committing themselves to Christ.

His wife, Ruth, passed away in 2007, and at her funeral, Billy called her the finest Christian he knew.

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