Pat Robertson, Baptist minister, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and longtime host of The 700 Club, died June 8 at home in Virginia Beach. He was 93.
Robertson built an empire that included a cable channel, a university and the Christian Coalition, and ran for president in 1988.
The New York Times said, “Whether in the pulpit, on the stump or in front of a television camera, Mr. Robertson could exhibit the mild manner of a friendly local minister, chuckling softly and displaying an almost perpetual twinkle in his eye. But he was also given to statements that his detractors saw as outlandishly wrongheaded and dangerously incendiary.”
Marion Gordon Robertson was born March 22, 1930 in Lexington, Virginia, the son of a senator. He got the name Pat because, when he was a baby, his older brother A. Willis Robertson Jr., would pat him on the cheeks while saying “Pat, pat, pat,” said the NY Times.
Robertson was in the Marines and went to Yale Law School. He earned a master’s degree in divinity in 1959 and was ordained as a minister.
Robertson bought a TV station in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1960, and launched the Christian Broadcasting Network on WYAH, short for Yahweh, in 1960.
A fundraiser saw him ask 700 people to pledge $10 a month, which became The 700 Club.
Christian Broadcasting Network broadcasts eventually went out to 200 countries, and Robertson established CBN as a satellite network in 1977, adding family shows to the religious content. It became CBN Family Channel in 1988.
CBN University launched in 1978, and later became Regent University. Robertson founded conservative political advocacy group the Christian Coalition in 1987.
He finished second in the Iowa caucuses during the 1988 presidential campaign, but later dropped out when it was evident that George H.W. Bush would win the nomination.
Robertson sold CBN Family Channel to Fox in 1997 for $1.9 billion. The network later went to Disney in a $5 billion deal, which renamed it ABC Family. Robertson worked out a deal to keep The 700 Club on the network for years.
In 2018, CBN News Channel, a 24-hour Christian news network, launched. It was available in 15 markets when it debuted.
In 2021, Robertson stepped down as host of The 700 Club after more than 50 years. His son Gordon took over as host.
“He was one of the most prominent and influential Christian broadcasters and entrepreneurs in the United States — equal parts religious leader and culture warrior,” said NBC News.
