Jerry Falwell

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Moral Majority leader Falwell dies
Evangelical leader was found in his university office
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 12:37 p.m. CT May 15, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell — founder of the Moral Majority and the face of the religious right in the 1980s — died Tuesday after being found unconscious in his office, a Liberty University executive said.

Ron Godwin, Liberty's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, had been found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.

Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but noted that Falwell had “a history of heart challenges.”

“I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast,” Godwin said. “He went to his office, I went to mine and they found him unresponsive.”

Falwell, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority in 1979, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later founded the conservative Liberty University and served as its chancellor.

In the 1980s, Falwell saw his political lobbying organization grow to 6.5 million members, raising millions of dollars for conservative politicians and helping to elect Ronald Reagan president.

A biography of Falwell on Liberty University's Web site states that "with the impetus of the newly organized Moral Majority, millions of people of faith voted for the first time in 1980 and helped elect Ronald Reagan and many conservative congressmen and senators."

Falwell survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized in February for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then hospitalized again in March with congestive heart failure after being found unconscious. At that time he had to be resuscitated by EMTs at the hospital emergency room.

A native of Lynchburg, Falwell and his wife, Macel, have three children and eight grandchildren.

His Jerry Falwell ministries take in about $200 million a year in revenues, according to Liberty University's Web site.

Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.

This report will be updated as information becomes available.

© 2007 MSNBC InteractiveThe Associated Press contributed to this report.