Ed Dobson

Edward George Dobson (29 December 1949 – 26 December 2015) was an American minister from Northern Ireland, a founding dean of Liberty University, He was an author and speaker on Christian and other issues, including after being diagnosed with ALS in 2000.

Early life

Born Edward George Dobson on 29 December 1949, in Northern Ireland, Dobson was a pastor's son and came to the United States in 1964 at the age of 14.

In the early 1980s he was a senior editor of Fundamentalist Journal, a new Falwell-founded publication, and he became editor-in-chief in the mid-1980s

By the late 1980s Dobson said he was disillusioned with Christian participation in the political process, and he moved away from fundamentalism toward mainstream evangelicalism. He decided that the rationale behind the Moral Majority had been wrong and that to a significant degree cultural problems could not be remedied through the political process.

In 1987 Dobson left Liberty. He was senior pastor at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1987–2005. Dobson continued in the pastorate of Calvary Church until 2005, wrote the memoir, Prayers and Promises when Facing a Life-Threatening Illness, published by Zondervan in 2007, and served as an advisory editor for Christianity Today. In Spring 2008, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary dedicated a "Dobson Study Center" in its classroom building to honor Dobson's long pastorate and television ministry in Grand Rapids.

Personal life Dobson lived for much of the latter part of his life in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A short video was made of Dobson's ALS.

Dobson died on 26 December 2015, at age 65.

Fundraising

Dobson was a Corvette enthusiast, and participated in a cross-country drive on Route 66 to raise money for ALS research, an event that drew "40 friends and a dozen Corvettes" and raised approximately $275,000.

Further reading and viewing

For cast and crew, see this link, and to view the Episode 6 video, see this link.