Reverend Ike dies at 74

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, who preached the gospel of material prosperity to millions nationwide as Reverend Ike, died Tuesday. He was 74.

Eikerenkoetter died in Los Angeles, minister and family spokesman Bishop E. Bernard Jordan told The New York Times. Jordan said Reverend Ike suffered a stroke in 2007 and never fully recovered.

At his United Church Science of Living Institute, housed in a former movie theater in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, Reverend Ike preached the power of what he called "positive self-image psychology" to his 5,000 parishioners.

In the 1970s, he was one of the first evangelists to reach an audience of millions through television.

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