Houston Taylor Rankin, longtime faculty member at Hardin-Simmons University, died Aug. 11 in Abilene. He was 89. He was born June 30, 1934, to Sam Hull and Chlorice Bible Rankin in Jefferson City, Tenn. He met Libby, his future wife, when they were students at Carson-Newman College. They married on June 15, 1957, at the First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tenn. After three years of service in the U.S. Army, Rankin earned a master’s degree in botany at the University of Tennessee in 1961. He taught in the public schools in Knoxville and then as a college professor at the University of Corpus Christi. In 1966, he returned to graduate school at Auburn University where he earned a Ph.D. In 1969, Rankin began 34 years of service on the Hardin-Simmons University faculty as professor of biology, including 27 years as a department head. He served two terms as vice president and two years as president of the Hardin-Simmons faculty. He was named senior professor of biology in 1995 and received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award. In 2000, he was recognized for outstanding service by the Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics, and the university’s greenhouse bears his name. He was ordained as a deacon in University Baptist Church in Abilene, and served as deacon at First Baptist Church beginning in 1972. He enjoyed playing the mountain dulcimer with the Catclaw Creek Band and the Big Country Autoharp and Dulcimer Club. Rankin was preceded in death by his sisters Phyllis, Ruth and Frances and a brother, Lyle. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Jaynes Rankin; daughter, Rachael Rankin Bein and husband Bob of Abilene; sons Rob Rankin and wife Julie of Midland and Andrew Rankin and wife Laurie of Owasso, Okla.; eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a brother, Richard Rankin and wife Sue of White Pine, Tenn. A memorial service will be held at Logsdon Chapel on the Hardin-Simmons University campus at 2 p.m. on Aug. 18. Visitation will follow in the reception room at Logsdon Chapel. Memorial gifts may be made to the Rankin Family Scholarship Fund at Hardin-Simmons University.

Shirley Ann Fannin, former kindergarten teacher and equipper for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, died June 22 in Dickinson. She was 86. She was born to Gertrude and Thomas Stocks on Nov. 14, 1936, in Waldo, Ark. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at age 8 at First Baptist Church in Camden, Ark. As a teenager, she played the piano for Elliott Baptist Church in Elliott, Ark., until she went to college at Southern Arkansas University on a scholarship. She met Loyd Fannin at the Baptist Student Union at Southern Arkansas University, and they attended church together. They married on Sept. 8, 1956. In the years that followed, after a time in Norman, Okla., his job with Monsanto took them to El Dorado, Ark.; St. Louis, Mo.; and finally to Dickinson. When their daughters were in school, she attended the University of Houston to complete her bachelor’s degree in education. She spent the majority of her 20-plus years in education teaching kindergarten students. She and her husband were members of First Baptist Church in Dickinson 46 years. After she retired, she was actively involved with WMU in her church, at the associational level and 15 years as an equipper for Texas WMU, working in 11 Baptist associations. She is survived by her husband of 67 years Loyd; daughter Michelle and her husband Raymond; daughter Melanie and her husband Steve; four grandchildren; and four great-granddaughters. Her celebration of life in Christ memorial service can be viewed on YouTube at  https://youtu.be/uaUYMbfEDUw, with piano prelude by her daughter Michelle and a service officiated by her son-in-law, Raymond McHenry, pastor of Westgate Memorial Baptist Church in Beaumont.

Wilma Alice Gemmell Kidd, former Southern Baptist missionary to Brazil, died June 24 in Robert Lee. She was 101. She was born to Robert and Ellen Gemmell Jan. 26, 1922, on the family farm in northeastern Nebraska. At age 11, she made her profession of faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized at Carroll Baptist Church in Wayne County, Neb. After she graduated from Carroll High School, she attended State Teachers College in Wayne, Neb., and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Howard Payne College—now Howard Payne University—in Brownwood in 1946. Three years later, she graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth with a Master of Religious Education degree. She also studied at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., and University of Alabama in Birmingham. She was educational secretary at First Baptist Church in Stephenville and worked as a secretary at the national office of the Woman’s Missionary Union in Birmingham, Ala. She also taught in rural schools and worked in sales of office systems. Fulfilling a calling to foreign missions, she arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sept. 12, 1963, as associate missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board. She worked in the board’s financial office in Rio de Janeiro, and she sang in church choirs and in the Association for Singing of Choral Music. She and Jesse L. Kidd, a Southern Baptist missionary working in the Baptist school at Volta Redonda in the state of Rio de Janeiro, married Oct. 14, 1967, in St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. In July 1969, they returned to Brazil as Foreign Mission Board associate missionaries. They served in the state of Santa Catarina in pioneer evangelism. In 1976, they moved to Montes Claros in the state of Minas Gerais, where he served as director of missions of the North Association of Baptist Churches and she guided children’s and adult choirs in churches. Missionary service in Brazil continued until 1989 when the Kidds retired to Baptist Retirement Community in San Angelo. They were members of Immanuel Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, where she was a member of the Mary/Martha Sunday School class. She taught adult Sunday School classes and sang in sanctuary choirs and in the San Angelo Symphony Chorale. At Baptist Retirement Community, she sang in the chapel services. She was preceded in death by her husband Jesse in 2020; brothers Donald Gemmell, Allan Gemmell, John Gemmell, Ralph Gemmell and Fred Gemmell; and sisters: Elsie Whitney, Jean Smith, Elizabeth Norris and Jessie Back. She is survived by nieces and nephews and their families. A memorial service is scheduled at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 1, at the chapel of Baptist Retirement Community in San Angelo under the direction of Robert Massie Funeral Home. Memorial gifts may be made to the Wilma Alice Gemmell Kidd and Jesse L. Kidd Endowed Scholarship at Howard Payne University, P.O. Box 2369, Brownwood, TX 76804 or to a ministry of your choice.

Russell H. Dilday, whose tenure as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth saw the school’s endowment more than double while leading the seminary to its greatest period of growth but who was fired in 1994 by fundamentalists controlling the board of trustees, died June 21. He was 92.

Dilday had been in failing health the past two years, according to his daughter, Nancy Dilday Duck. He was living in Dallas at Ventana by Buckner senior living community.

“Daddy never lost his wonderful sense of humor and his heart for ministry,” his family said in a statement. “Everyone around him loved and admired him. We are sad to lose him, but we are grateful for his amazing life and all he did for the kingdom of God. We have lost a wonderful father and Baptists have lost a great leader.”

Man of ‘character’ and ‘integrity’

Dilday served as president of Southwestern Seminary from 1978 to 1994. During his tenure, the school became the largest theological seminary in the world and was responsible for training more than half of all Southern Baptist missionaries at the time.

His time as president of the school was marked by ongoing battles with a fundamentalist board during the height of Southern Baptists’ political struggles for control of the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination.

Toby Druin, former editor of the Baptist Standard, remembered Dilday’s grace in the face of difficult times for Southwestern and Southern Baptists.

“Russell Dilday was the epitome of a Christian leader and statesman and a staunch defender of Baptist principles. He was outspoken in his defense of the authority of the Bible,” Druin said. “He was president of Southwestern Seminary during its greatest years.

“I will always remember him for his character and integrity and his friendship toward The Baptist Standard,” Druin said.

After his firing March 9, 1994, Dilday served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and in leadership roles at two other BGCT-affiliated schools. He was a retired distinguished professor of homiletics at Truett Theological Seminary and special assistant to the president of Baylor University.

In 2002, he served as interim president of Howard Payne University in Brownwood, and he was instrumental in the founding of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, serving as its first chancellor.

William M. Pinson Jr., BGCT executive director emeritus, described Dilday as “a wonderful friend” and a “deeply dedicated follower of Jesus.”

“He greatly loved and was devoted to his personal family and his Baptist family,” Pinson said. “Brilliant with a strong sense of humor, he was willing to tackle challenging, controversial circumstances. His faith in Christ and courage, coupled with the support of his wife and family, enabled him to serve steadfastly during turbulent times in Baptist life.”

In addition to his service in institutional and denominational life, Dilday was the founding pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston and pastor of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, along with churches in Antelope and Clifton. He also served several churches as interim pastor.

Throughout his career, Dilday was a prolific author, writing numerous articles and books, including his highly regarded commentary on 1 and 2 Kings for The Preacher’s Commentary series. In addition, he contributed to numerous books and anthologies.

‘Higher Ground’

Known as one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s leading statesmen during his career, Dilday was only the second president of an SBC seminary to preach the convention’s annual sermon in 1984, following in the footsteps of E.Y. Mullins, who was the subject of Dilday’s doctoral dissertation.

That sermon in Kansas City, Mo., put him in the crosshairs of fundamentalist leaders of the convention. Titled “Higher Ground,” Dilday called on Southern Baptists to put aside denominational politics and power struggles and aspire to a higher standard.

“Stay on the heights, Southern Baptists,” he urged messengers. “You’re doing a great work. Stay close to the Lord and to the task he has called you to perform. Be faithful to your historic heritage. Don’t dabble in controversies or exhaust your energies arm-wrestling for denominational control. Stay on the higher ground of spiritual persuasion, autonomous individualism, (and) the Christ-like humility where you belong.”

In 2007, Dilday released a book titled Higher Ground: A Call for Christianity Civility, in which he called for Baptists “to move beyond the lowlands of caustic controversy to the higher ground of Christianity civility.”

His firing from Southwestern Seminary sent shockwaves through the SBC. A photo of the locks on his office being changed circulated through Baptist state papers and brought a torrent of criticism on trustees. Media outlets from across the country covered the story.

Dilday later recalled a rally of students outside his home the day after the firing. “Betty and I led them in singing ‘Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see you.’ I will always remember that moment. It was a moment that said to them and to us: ‘God is at work in all things for good. God can bring good out of evil. God’s way is to leave the past behind and focus on Jesus.”

“The grace with which Dr. Dilday handled his firing amazes me to this day,” said Alan Lefever, Baptist historian and director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection. “There was no desire for revenge, no bitterness at being unjustly dismissed, only a conviction to follow God’s call.

“I believe history will remember Russell Dilday in the same way we recall George Truett or R.C. Buckner. He was a man of grace, charity, and conviction. We should all seek to emulate his example.”

Dr. Dilday’s 2004 book Columns: Glimpses of a Seminary Under Assault, gives a detailed account of events leading up to his dismissal.

“My disagreement (with SBC fundamentalists) was always aimed at the fundamentalist spirit, the secular political methodology of the takeover party and their disregard for authentic Baptist principles,” he wrote.

Todd Still, dean of Truett Seminary where Dr. Dilday served after his firing at Southwestern, called him “an unusually gifted preacher, administrator, and leader. Dr. Dilday helped to light the way for innumerable students, myself included, as well as for congregations, institutions, and a denomination for years on end.”

Still added, “I am, and we are, diminished by his death even as we were blessed by his life. He will always be the standard of a Christian gentleman and scholar.”

Native Texan and minister’s son

A native Texan, Dilday grew up in a Texas Baptist minister’s home. His father, Hooper Dilday, served a number of Texas churches, and was on the staff of the BGCT 20 years in Sunday school, discipleship training and church services, and was longtime minister of education at First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls.

His mother Opal Spillers Dilday was born in Memphis, Texas, and was a children’s educational specialist in Baptist churches in Amarillo, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Wichita Falls and Dallas.

Russell Hooper Dilday was born Sept. 30, 1930, in Amarillo. He was the older of three brothers and a sister born to Hooper and Opal Dilday. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, where he met his wife Betty, who died in 2018. The couple first met in a Bible class at Baylor University and were married 66 years.

He earned his Master of Divinity and his Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Southwestern Seminary.

Dilday was preceded in death by his wife Betty, a younger brother, Don Dilday, and son Robert Dilday. Survivors include his two daughters, Nancy Duck and husband Nolan, and Ellen Garrett and husband Shannon, along with six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his sister Ann Young and her husband Mack, along with a brother Jim Dilday.

The family has requested memorials be made to the Russell H. Dilday Chair in Baptist Life and Leadership at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary by contacting Jon Sisk at jon_sisk@baylor.edu or calling 254-715-6124. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, July 8 at 10 a.m. at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

Rodney Roy DeLoach, a longtime Baptist pastor and chaplain, died March 28 in Tyler. He was 100. He was born March 13, 1923, in Bodcaw, Ark., to George McCluster and Ruth May Simmons DeLoach. After he graduated from Vidor High School in southeast Texas, he attended Lamar College in Beaumont, majoring in math. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Navy. After initially being stationed at Great Lakes, Ill., and training in Morse Code as a radio operator, he served in combat in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The Navy sent him to Rice University for one year as a math major, before he ultimately graduated from the University of Houston in 1949 with a petroleum engineering degree. While working on oil rigs, he also became one of the top insurance salesmen for the Great Southern Life Insurance Company, where he worked 10 years. He and JoAnn Teel married in Houston on March 31, 1951. Feeling God’s call to ministry, DeLoach enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1958 and began serving his first church in 1961 at Loeb. He subsequently served churches in Addison, Ill.; Hamilton, Ohio; and San Antonio. He also was interim pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in West Chester, Ohio, and Liberty Baptist Church in Hawkins, Texas. He took great pleasure in serving as a chaplain both for the Longview Fire Department in 1992 and the UT Health Science Center in Tyler. He also was a Grand Lodge of Texas Master Mason for 70 years and a member of the American Legion. He was preceded in death by his son Rodney Roy DeLoach. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, JoAnn Teel DeLoach; daughter Debra Beike and her husband Bob; daughter Pam Mago and her husband Philip; daughter Lisa Ross and her husband John Ross; son George DeLoach and his wife Laura; 18 grandchildren; and 22 great-grandchildren. Memorial donations designated to the Rodney and JoAnn DeLoach Endowed Scholarship may be made to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 22500, Fort Worth, TX 76122.

Robert Dee “Bob” Longshore, Texas Baptist pastor and development officer, died June 10 in Mesquite. He was 100. He was born Jan. 25, 1923, in Commerce to Otis and Leonora Longshore.  Soon after he graduated from Commerce High School, where he was co-captain of the football team, he joined the U.S. Army. Longshore served as a first sergeant in the Army Signal Corps attached to the Air Force during World War II. He was honorably discharged in 1945 having been awarded nine Bronze Stars, one Bronze Arrowhead, the American Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. While stationed in Darmstadt, Germany, Longshore felt God calling him to preach. Upon returning to the United States following the war, he was ordained to the ministry by First Baptist Church in Commerce. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While a student at Baylor, he met Anita Ruth Moore. They married June 18, 1948, in Winnsboro. Longshore was pastor of Fairlie Baptist Church near Commerce, Heidenheimer Baptist Church in Bell County, First Baptist Church in College Station and First Baptist Church in Littlefield. In 1966, he joined the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a development officer. In 1969, he was instrumental in starting Baylor University’s Student Foundation, a student organization that has since raised more than $5 million in student scholarships. He retired from the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1985 as the director of the Texas Baptist institutional development program. He was preceded in death by a brother and two sisters. He is survived by his wife of nearly 75 years Anita; daughter Catherine Rendon of Mesquite; daughter Faith Houston of Sunnyvale and husband Steve; and daughter Deanna Harrison of Denver, Colo., and husband Scott; five grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; and three great-grandsons. Visitation will be at 1 p.m. on June 17 at Restland Funeral Home Memorial Chapel in Dallas, with a memorial service following at 2 p.m. Burial is scheduled at 1 p.m. on June 21 at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Baylor University Student Foundation, to the Baptist General Convention of Texas designated for the “Pastor Sabbatical Grant” or another charity. 

WASHINGTON (RNS)—C. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist pastor who became an advocate for interfaith relations and progressive causes, died June 7. He was 81.

The Interfaith Alliance—where Gaddy served as president from 1997 to 2014—announced Gaddy died in his home in Monroe, La.

“Welton stood as a source of inspiration to many,” the statement from the Interfaith Alliance read. “He showed us that it was possible to hold on to our faith while also fighting for the rights of others who did not share our religious tradition.”

Growing up in Tennessee, Gaddy went to Union University there before attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where he earned a master’s and a Ph.D.

He went on to become a Southern Baptist minister, serving with the Southern Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission and as pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. He also served on the SBC Executive Committee.

When the SBC moved sharply to the right, Gaddy helped to found the Alliance of Baptists in 1987 as a progressive alternative. He also served on the general council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

In addition to his ministry, Gaddy also threw himself into the public sphere. He was president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State before taking leadership of the Interfaith Alliance, where he remained 16 years until his retirement.

While leading the Interfaith Alliance, he also was senior pastor of Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La., until 2016 and pastor emeritus until his death.

Gaddy was a frequent critic of the religious right throughout the 1990s. He told Religion News Service he fashioned the Interfaith Alliance to demonstrate Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and others, who he said had “co-opted” the language of religious freedom, “don’t represent all Christians.” Indeed, Gaddy often sparred with Falwell and Robertson—the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network who also died this week.

Gaddy also voiced opposition to government-endorsed prayer and once served on a White House task force focused on “making the (White House faith-based) office constitutional,” despite telling officials at the time “You know, I still want it closed.”

He also organized in support of hate-crimes legislation and railed against the mistreatment of Muslims and Jews, once helping organize a ceremony at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to apologize on behalf of Baptist Christians for sins of “complicity” and “silence” regarding theology used to justify the oppression of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

 “It was my privilege to know the man, not just the pastor or the public figure,” Rabbi Jack Moline, an emeritus president of Interfaith Alliance, said.

“In my Jewish tradition, we respond to a loss like this with the prayer, ‘May his memory be a blessing.’ It is and will continue to be.”

Gaddy, who hosted a regular “State of Belief” radio show that later became a podcast, was known for elevating religious voices in support of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ Christians.

“It does not go without notice that we are remembering Welton just as the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month,” said Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Interfaith Alliance’s president.

“Welton wrote about full inclusion and dignity for LGBTQ+ people long before many other religious leaders. Across so many areas, Welton used his platform to project a vision for America that was inclusive of different beliefs and respectful of every individual’s inherent dignity.”

Gaddy is survived by his wife, Judy, as well as his son James and two grandsons. Another son, John Paul, died in 2014.

The Alliance of Baptists issued a statement celebrating the life of the group’s foundational leader, calling him “an integral member of a small group of Baptists who were committed to ensuring that all Baptists were not synonymous with fundamentalism.”

Gaddy may be gone, the statement said, but his legacy of forging a different vision for his Christian faith, as well as preaching respect for others, will endure.

“We will continue the work that he started,” the statement read.

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp. 

Frankie Rainey Jr., former pastor and professor, died May 19. He was 84. He was born Sept. 6, 1938, in Corsicana to Frankie and Mary Rainey. He was a graduate of Wayland Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned his doctorate. He served seven Texas Baptist churches as pastor. He was a professor of Christian studies 18 years at Howard Payne University and professor of biblical languages and campus pastor 10 years at Canadian Baptist Theological Seminary. He is survived by his wife of 65 years Sue Rainey, son Paul Rainey and his wife Tracie, daughter Rhonda Bertrand and her husband Ray, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on May 26 at First Baptist Church in Burleson.

Betty Jean Law, former Baptist missionary and missions administrator, died April 16 in Fort Worth. She was 94. Law was born Nov. 8, 1928, in Fort Worth, where she grew up attending College Avenue Baptist Church. Through the ministry of the Baptist Student Union at what is now Texas Woman’s University in Denton, she felt God’s call to vocational ministry. After she and Thomas Lee Law Jr. married in 1949, they attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth before they were appointed by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board as missionaries to Cuba. They returned to Texas in 1960, and her husband became director of missions for the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association. In 1964, the Laws and their four young sons relocated to Spain, where they served with the SBC Foreign Mission Board as church planters, mission team leaders and seminary teachers. After they returned to the United States due to her husband’s health, she accepted an administrative post with the FMB in Richmond, Va., in the Western South America office. She served in a series of roles, eventually being named regional vice president for the Americas in 1990. She resigned from the FMB in 1992 and helped establish Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions. When she retired from CBF in 1996, she moved back to Fort Worth and joined Gambrell Street Baptist Church, where she was a deacon and trustee. She served on several Baptist General Convention of Texas committees and boards. She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Lee Law Jr.; her sister, Dorothy Mae Freeman Morrison; and by a great-grandson, Gideon Levi Stegner. She is survived by four sons, Thomas Lee “Tom” Law III of Norman, Okla; John Richard “Dick” Law of Austin; Charles Rush Keith Law of Fort Worth; Stephen Paul “Steve” Law of Richmond; 14 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled at 1 p.m. on July 15 at Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

William “Bill” King Robbins Jr. of Houston, philanthropist and Baptist deacon, died April 13. He was 91. Robbins was born Nov. 29, 1931, to Helen and William King Robbins Sr. After he graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, he earned Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from Baylor University and a Juris Doctor degree from Baylor Law School. In his early years, he served as an officer and director of various international subsidiary companies of Union Carbide Corporation and as legal counsel for Humble Oil and Refining Company, now Exxon Corporation. A Korean War veteran, Robbins was the founder and CEO of Houston-based North American Corporation, which engages in consulting, finance and investments, along with oil, gas and energy activities. He and his wife Mary Jo created the Robbins Foundation to support Christian missions causes, education and health care internationally. At Baylor University, their philanthropy supported institutional initiatives and scholarships to the Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership within the Hankamer School of Business, as well as supporting Robbins Chapel within Brooks College. In March, Baylor dedicated the Mary Jo Robbins Clinic for Autism Research and Practice, named as part of a leadership gift by Bill Robbins in his wife’s honor. The clinic is housed within the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, named in recognition of a 2014 gift from the couple. “We are praying for Mary Jo, their family and so many in our Baylor community who had formed deep friendships with Bill over so many decades of support,” Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone said. “We mourn his passing, but we honor his life of service and the tremendous faith that guided and inspired him. The impact he leaves behind at Baylor is nothing short of transformational. He has supported, guided and exhorted our faculty and administration in the areas of healthcare and leadership, and the legacy that he and Mary Jo have created is truly humbling. Bill was renowned as a business leader and healthcare expert, but, most of all, he was known as a man of faith. What a powerful legacy.” At Baylor, Robbins was a member of the Endowed Scholarship Society, the Bear Foundation, the Old Main Society, the 1845 Society and the Heritage Club. He also was a life member of the Baylor Law Alumni Association. He served on the advisory councils of the Honors College and the Hankamer School of Business Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership. He also was on the Robbins College of Health and Human Services board of advocates and the Baylor University Foundation board. He formerly served on the Baylor University board of regents and on the board of trustees at Baylor College of Medicine. He also supported Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Hillcrest in Waco and the Baylor Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas. Survivors include his wife Mary Jo Huey Robbins; children Cynthia K. Robbins, Jackson Gorman and wife Cheryl Scoglio, and Crystal Baird; and two grandchildren. Visitation is scheduled April 20 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the family and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Grand Chapel at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home in Houston. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on April 21 at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston. Memorial gifts may be made to the Robbins Foundation, 4265 San Felipe, Suite 300, Houston, TX 77027 or to Tallowood Baptist Church, 555 Tallowood Rd, Houston, TX 77024.