(AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File). FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2006, file photo, Robert H. Schuller poses outside the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif. Schuller, the Southern California televangelist who brought his message of "possibility thinking" to...
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File). FILE - This Dec. 17, 2004 file photo shows the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., the Southern California megachurch founded by televangelist Robert H. Schuller Sr. Schuller, the Southern California televang...
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - A public memorial will be held Monday for televangelist Rev. Robert H. Schuller outside the glimmering cathedral he built in Southern California.
Schuller died on April 2 after a battle with esophageal cancer. He was 88.
The memorial service is open to the public and will be held on the campus of what was formerly Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in the heart of Orange County and is now the county's Roman Catholic cathedral. A private burial will follow.
Schuller started preaching from the roof of a concession stand at a drive-in movie theater in California in 1955. He began the televised "Hour of Power" in 1970 to take his upbeat messages on faith and redemption - that "possibility thinking" and love of God overcome hardships - to millions.
At its peak in the 1990s, the program had 20 million viewers in about 180 countries.
In recent years, Schuller faded from view after watching his church collapse amid a disastrous leadership transition and declines in viewership and donations that forced the ministry to file for bankruptcy in 2010.
The glass-paned, 2,800-seat sanctuary where Schuller once preached was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
Schuller, who wrote more than 30 books, including several best-sellers, lost a legal battle in 2012 to collect more than $5 million from his former ministry over claims of copyright infringement and breach of contract.
Robert Harold Schuller was born in Alton, Iowa, in 1926 and ordained in 1950. He was pastor of Ivanhoe Reformed Church in Chicago from 1950 to 1955 before moving to California.
Besides his son, Schuller and his wife had four daughters: Sheila, Jeanne, Carol and Gretchen. Wife Arvella Schuller died Feb. 11, 2014, after a brief illness.
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