Former Watergate felon turned evangelical leader and Prison Fellowship founder Charles W. “Chuck” Colson, 80, died April 21 in Fairfax, Va. He had been hospitalized since March 30 when his speech became slurred during the Wilberforce Weekend Conference in northern Virginia.
He was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., where doctors performed surgery the next morning. He suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage in his brain.
“Though we mourn the loss of a great leader, we rejoice knowing God has welcomed his humble and faithful servant home,” Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske said in a statement.
Colson started his career as a hard-nosed political operative in the Nixon White House, which led to a conviction in the Watergate proceedings for obstruction of justice — and a seven-month sentence served out at a federal prison in Alabama.
In the midst of the historic scandal, Colson’s self-assurance and religious apathy broke after a Christian businessman friend, Tom Phillips, prayed for him.
Upon his release from jail, Colson decided to start a prison ministry — Prison Fellowship.
Today Prison Fellowship is at work in most U.S. prisons and in more than 115 countries around the world.
“Chuck Colson was a towering intellect who already has a high-impact place in history as a courageous reformer,” said his pastor, Hayes Wicker, of First Baptist Church, Naples, Fla.
Colson also helped launch the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together initiative and was co-author of the 2010 Manhattan Declaration.
Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, said in a letter to signers and supporters of the Manhattan Declaration, “Let us celebrate the life of … a man of integrity, fidelity and true Christian faith.”
Colson is survived by his wife Patty, three children and five grandchildren.
(BP, TAB)
Share with others: