Days after Sept. 11, 2001, Falwell essentially blamed feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups for bringing on the terrorist attacks. He later apologized.

In 1999, he told an evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, a purple, purse-toting character on television's "Teletubbies" show, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children.

Falwell was re-energized after family values proved important in the 2004 presidential election. He formed the Faith and Values Coalition as the "21st Century resurrection of the Moral Majority," to seek anti-abortion judges, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and more conservative elected officials, accoidng to Sue Lindsey's AP report.

She says: "The big, blue-eyed preacher with a booming voice started his independent Baptist church with 35 members. From his living room, he began broadcasting his message of salvation and raising the donations that helped his ministry grow."

"He was one of the first to come up with ways to use television to expand his ministry," said Robert Alley, a retired University of Richmond religion professor who studied and criticized Falwell's career.

In 1987, Falwell took over the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry in South Carolina after Jim Bakker's troubles. Falwell slid fully clothed down a theme park water slide after donors met his fund-raising goal to help rescue the rival ministry. He gave it up seven months later after learning the depth of PTL's financial problems.

Lindsey reports that largely because of the Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals, donations to Falwell's ministry dropped from $135 million in 1986 to less than $100 million the following year. Hundreds of workers were laid off and viewers of his television show dwindled.

Liberty University was $73 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, and his "Old Time Gospel Hour" was $16 million in debt. By the mid-1990s, two local businessmen with long ties to Falwell began overseeing the finances and helped get companies to forgive debts or write them of as losses.

Falwell devoted much of his time keeping his university afloat. He dreamed that Liberty would grow to 50,000 students and be to fundamentalist Christians what Notre Dame is to Roman Catholics and Brigham Young University is to Mormons. He was an avid sports fan who arrived at Liberty basketball games to the cheers of students.

Falwell's father and his grandfather were militant atheists, he wrote in his autobiography. He said his father made a fortune off his businesses — including bootleging during Prohibition.

As a student, Falwell was a star athlete and a prankster who was barred from giving his high school valedictorian's speech after he was caught using counterfeit lunch tickets his senior year. He ran with a gang of juvenile delinquents before becoming a born-again Christian at age 19. He turned down an offer to play professional baseball and transferred from Lynchburg College to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.

"My heart was burning to serve Christ," he once said in an interview. "I knew nothing would ever be the same again."

Falwell is survived by his wife, Macel, and three children, Jerry, Jonathan and Jeannie.

According to the Lynchburg NewsAdvance online newspaper, Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Liberty University, confirmed that the Rev. Jerry Falwell, 73, died today after Falwell, the chancellor of Liberty University and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, arrived at Lynchburg General Hospital around noon having been found unresponsive in his office. Godwin said Falwell was found unconscious in his office after missing an appointment this morning.

A gathering was planned at the Thomas Road Baptist Church sanctuary at 2 p.m. today. Hospital officials were expected to talk to the media within the hour.

Lynchburg City Police Chief Charles Bennett said his department had stationed officers at the hospital to keep intrustions from family members to a minimum and to keep the hospital's Emergency Department running as smoothly as possible.

In March 2005, he lost consciousness as he was rushed to the hospital after complaining of shortness of breath, and was revived in the parking lot by emergency medical services. Doctors subsequently discovered blockage in blood vessels in his heart; he underwent a successful cardiac procedure at the Cleveland Clinic that summer.

The Associated Press reported that earlier, Godwin said Falwell was hospitalized in "gravely serious" condition after being found unconscious in his office.

Godwin said Falwell was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but "he has a history of heart challenges."

© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission