Leader of the Christian fundamentalist movement and co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” novels about the return of Jesus and rapture, has died. Rev. Tim LaHaye died on Monday in San Diego, California, days after suffering a stroke.
His family announced the news of his passing at a San Diego hospital on his ministry Facebook page.
Tim LaHaye had a stroke while walking down his driveway Thursday to retrieve a newspaper and did not regain consciousness, according to his son Larry LaHaye while speaking to CNN.
Some circulated a statement by LaHaye’s daughter Linda before his passing: “He will not recover from this, he will soon be graduated to heaven.”
LaHaye and his partner Jerry B. Jenkins wrote 16 volumes in the “Left Behind” series, which sold more than 80 million copies worldwide.
He married Beverly Ratcliffe in 1947, who founded Concerned Women for America in 1979 as a conservative counterweight to the National Organization for Women.
“Their union prompted Time magazine in 2005 to name them ‘The Christian Power Couple,’ ” according to LaHaye’s biography.”The proclamation came as the magazine named Dr. LaHaye as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America.”
As a couple, the LaHayes hosted a radio show and, later, a TV program called “The LaHayes on Family Life.