Missionary to Belize, ministry founder, dies — Ralph Moss (Buddy) Hardy Jr.

Missionary to Belize, ministry founder, dies — Ralph Moss (Buddy) Hardy Jr.

Ralph Moss (Buddy) Hardy Jr., who served as a missionary to Belize and started Fishers of Men International Missions Inc., died April 29. He was 67. 

Hardy, a member of Shiloh Baptist Church, Sardis, earned a pilot’s license and later an Airline Transport Pilot rating. He served in the Alabama Army National Guard and the Air Force Reserve for a combination of 33 years; 20 of those years were on active duty.

In 1990, he went on his first missions trip to Belize. For the next 13 years, he traveled to Belize at least once a year and helped to complete the Western Region Baptist Training Center in the Cayo District.

In 2003, Hardy began to host missions teams who went out to minister in rural villages. Later he realized the need for a separately funded ministry to support existing ministries and develop new missions projects. He then founded Fishers of Men, a “nonprofit missions organization formed to spread the love of Jesus Christ in the country of Belize,” according to its website. Multiple Alabama Baptist churches served on missions trips through Fishers of Men.

Hardy is survived by his wife, Kathryn, three children and seven grandchildren.