Posted on 08/23/2007 9:59:34 PM PDT by Between the Lines
The Rev. Jerry Falwell had life insurance policies worth $34 million and the money has been used to erase the debt of Liberty University, the school he founded.
The televangelist's son, Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., said his father had named the university and the Thomas Road Baptist Church as beneficiaries to protect their future.
The policies left $29 million to Liberty; its debt had reached $82 million in 1992, but the school had succeeded in paying off a significant amount before the elder Falwell's death.
Another $5 million went to the 22,000-member Thomas Road congregation, which Falwell had led, according to the News & Advance of Lynchburg.
Falwell Jr. said his father used to joke that when he "kicked the bucket" the school would get a windfall. Falwell, a founder and leader of the Moral Majority, died last May.
What a beautiful gift to bequeath.
A class act.
Very generous! I’m pleased for the beneficiaries!
Wow! $34m? That’s amazing. I am happy for Liberty U.
I wonder if any of it was key-man insurance required by the lenders.
That’s possible. Unless he’d had the policies for many years, the premiums must have been very substantial. If he were paying them himself, then it’s a very generous contribution to the institution.
On the other hand, if the institution paid for the policies, that’s kind of ... an investment, as it were.
As much debt as the Univeristy and the church had, and the fact that the main draw at that point was Falwell, I would think that a prudent lender would have required the insurance.
I agree. A prudent insurer would be charging an arm and a leg for large policies on a gentleman of Rev. Falwell’s age and health, though. That’s why I wondered if the policies had been in force a long time.
They might even have turned him down entirely, in the last few years, on “worth more dead than alive” concerns.
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