Celebrated American media mogul, Marion Gordon Pat Robertson was born on March 22nd 1930 in Lexington, Virginia in the United States of America. He was born to Gladys Churchill, a musician and Absalom Willis Robertson who was a Conservative Democratic Senator.
Early Life & Education
Willis Robertson, Jr., his six-year-old brother, who liked to stroke him on the cheeks while saying “pat, pat, pat” when he was a baby, gave Robertson the nickname Pat when he was small. Robertson afterwards considered the first name he would prefer people to use. He chose “Pat” because he thought “Marion” and “M. Gordon” were effeminate and affected, respectively. Robertson began attending the preparatory McDonogh School outside of Baltimore, Maryland, when he was eleven years old. He studied at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1940 to 1946, graduating with honors. He was accepted to Washington and Lee University, where he graduated with honors with a B.A. in history. Additionally, he belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, the most esteemed intellectual honor group in the country. He became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Robertson chose to enlist in the Marine Corps once the draft was restored in 1948 rather than being recruited into the Army. Former Republican congressman Paul “Pete” McCloskey, Jr., who served in Camp Pendleton alongside Robertson, criticized Robertson’s service record in a public letter in 1986.
Robertson sued McCloskey for libel, but he withdrew the case in 1988 so he could focus all of his time and energy on getting the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Upon his return to the country in 1952, Robertson received a promotion to First Lieutenant. He later went on to graduate from Yale Law School in 1955 with a law degree, finishing near the top of his class. However, Robertson did not let the fact that he failed his first and only attempt at the New York bar exam which is required for membership in the New York State Bar Association deter him because he never meant to practice law in the first place. Soon after, he underwent a religious conversion and changed his mind about pursuing a commercial career. Robertson instead enrolled in The Biblical Seminary in New York, where he graduated with a Master of Divinity in 1959.
Career
Robertson founded International Family Entertainment Inc., Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, American Center for Law and Justice, The Flying Hospital, Inc., and numerous other institutions and broadcasting companies. He also founded The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Inc. and serves as its chairman. International Family Entertainment Inc. was started by Robertson, who also served as co-chairman (IFE). IFE was founded in 1990 and since then has created and disseminated family entertainment and informational programming all over the world. The Family Channel, a satellite-delivered cable-television network with 63 million U.S. subscribers, was the main source of income for IFE.
IFE, a publicly traded corporation that was traded on the New York Stock Exchange, was acquired by Fox Kids Worldwide, Inc. in 1997 for $1.9 billion, and it was rebranded as Fox Family Channel as a result. After Disney acquired FFC in 2001, the company’s name was once more changed to ABC Family. On January 12, 2016, the network changed its name to Freeform, while Robertson’s sale of the station still mandates that Freeform air four hours of CBN/700 Club content every weekday, along with CBN’s annual telethon. Robertson is a multi-national entrepreneur with media interests in Asia, the UK, and Africa. He made an agreement with the General Nutrition Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to produce and distribute a weight-loss smoothie he developed and advertised on The 700 Club.
In order to offer financial services in the United States, Robertson and the Bank of Scotland formed a joint venture in 1999. The project, however, failed after progressive groups objected to Robertson’s Biblical viewpoints on a number of topics. While others have put his net worth in the $200 million to $1 billion range, Robertson has said that these estimations are unfounded and wrong. According to a June 2, 1999 article in The Virginian-Pilot, Robertson had economic relationships with the president of Liberia, Charles Taylor. The article claimed that Robertson and Taylor had negotiated a multimillion-dollar contract for gold mining activities in Liberia. Taylor testified that Robertson was his principal political ally in the U.S. on February 4, 2010, at his war crimes trial in the Hague; nevertheless, Robertson has denied ever speaking to or meeting Charles Taylor. Rev. Pat Robertson began racing thoroughbred horses in the latter half of the 1990s under the guise of Tega Farm. His gelding Tappat triumphed in the 2000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Handicap at Penn National Race Course and the 1999 Walter Haight Handicap at Laurel Park. After this achievement, Robertson spent $520,000 on a colt he called Mr. Pat. Mr. Pat, who was trained by John Kimmel, did not have success as a runner. Although he was nominated, he did not participate in the 2000 Kentucky Derby.
Personal Life
Pat Robertson was married to Amelia “Dede” Elmer in 1954. Amelia was a fashion model and Miss Ohio State beauty queen who was pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Yale University.
At Columbus, Ohio’s Ohio State University, she had also studied nursing. Gordon P. Robertson was one of their four children, and they remained together until her death in 2022. Elizabeth Faith Robertson, Tim Robertson, and Anne Carter Robertson
Net Worth
Pat Robertson’s net worth is estimated to be between $200 million and $1 billion.
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