Garner Ted Armstrong, the controversial television evangelist who founded his own international church in Tyler, Texas, after he broke with his late father's Pasadena-based Worldwide Church of God 25 years ago, died Monday. He was 73.
Armstrong, known for being the voice of television's "The World Tomorrow" and subsequent programs, had suffered from pneumonia, supporters said. His death in Tyler was confirmed by his son, Mark, in an announcement issued by the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Assn.
Silver-haired and movie-star handsome, the gifted and persuasive broadcaster had been on the air since 1955, when he was first ordained a minister. In 1957, he took over the weekly "World Tomorrow" radio shows from his father, Herbert W. Armstrong. His voice eventually reached every continent over about 300 radio stations. By the early 1970s he was viewed on about 165 U.S. television broadcast stations, drawing millions of viewers. He was known, he once estimated, by 30% of the American people.
Armstrong obituary -- An obituary in Tuesday's California section of televangelist Garner Ted Armstrong incorrectly referred to Armstrong's wife, Shirley, as his former wife. They were married at the time of his death.
Often plagued by scandal, Armstrong was asked to step down in 1995 as head of the Church of God International, which he had formed in 1978, after a Texas woman accused him of having sexually assaulted her during two massage sessions. He denied the charges but "voluntarily removed himself" as president and chairman of the church board. He continued to preach and appear on television until church leaders demanded his removal in 1997.
He continued his on-air ministry through a reconstituted Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelical Assn., and in 1998 founded and headed a new church, the Intercontinental Church of God. He was president of both until his death.
Born in Portland, Ore., and reared in Eugene, Armstrong earned bachelor's and master's degrees and a doctorate from his father's church-sponsored Ambassador College in Pasadena after serving in the Navy during the Korean War.
Until their well-publicized split in 1978, Armstrong had worked within the Worldwide Church of God founded by his father. A pioneer radio preacher, the senior Armstrong set up the Radio Church of God in 1934, moved it to Pasadena in 1946 and renamed it the Worldwide Church of God in 1968, also building the Ambassador College campus and Ambassador Auditorium.
