Televangelist Rex Humbard dies

ATLANTIS, Fla., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Preacher Rex Humbard, the world's first televangelist and pastor to Elvis Presley, has died at 88.

Humbard died Friday of natural causes in a hospital near his home in Lantana Fla., said a family spokesman.

In 1949, Humbard began broadcasting from the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, Ind., and by 1952 was broadcasting weekly to millions from his 5,400-seat Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, said a release.

His weekly program ran for nearly 30 years on 2,000 stations worldwide in 91 languages.

Presley considered Humbard his pastor and when Presley died Vernon Presley, his father, asked Humbard to lead the funeral service in Memphis, Tenn.

Humbard, the son of a minister, was born Aug. 13, 1919 in Little Rock, Ark. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Maude Aimee, two sons and one daughter. Humbard is to be buried in Akron, Ohio.