Trinity Broadcasting's Jan Crouch Dies Days After Stroke

Jan Crouch, co-founder of one of the world’s larger Christian broadcasting networks, died early Tuesday of a massive stroke at 78 — before a truce could be called in her family’s painfully public civil war.

Alongside her late husband, Paul, Crouch built Orange County-based Trinity Broadcasting Network from a vision Paul had while tooling down MacArthur Boulevard. The couple turned that vision into a religious empire spanning the globe, one with nearly $1 billion in net assets.

Jan and Paul Crouch started the network in 1973 by renting air time on independent California stations, first in Ontario and then Fontana. Trinity officials say its programming is now carried by over 5,000 television stations throughout the U.S., Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific islands, among many other locations.

As the empire grew, so did fissures within the family, including back-and-forth allegations of financial mismanagement and a claim that some in the family covered up sexual abuse.

Crouch’s death leaves the prosperity-gospel empire in the hands of her younger son, Matthew Crouch, who largely took the reins in 2012 after Paul Crouch Sr. fell ill. Cut out of the picture almost entirely was her eldest son, Paul Crouch Jr., and his family. Members of the Crouch Jr. clan hadn’t seen Jan Crouch for years, and learned of her passing through news reports, family members said.

In a statement on Trinity Broadcasting’s website, son Matthew and his wife Laurie said they “just watched the transition of our precious Mother from this world to the next; watched her step into the presence of Jesus and into her heavenly reward.

“Those who battled for the Kingdom of God knew her as a fighter — someone who didn’t give up, someone who fought relentlessly to get the Gospel around the world,” it continued. “She has taken a piece of our hearts with her, but it’s so wonderful to know that Paul and Jan Crouch are together again, in the arms of Jesus.”

Crouch had been hospitalized since falling ill May 25. She died Tuesday in Orlando, Florida.

Brandon Crouch and his sisters, Brittany Crouch Koper and Carra Crouch, hadn’t seen Jan Crouch because of the family’s brutal infighting. Both sisters are suing Trinity.

Brittany Crouch Koper has accused the mighty Christian broadcaster of playing fast and loose with the ministry’s millions, and provided internal documents to back up her claims.

Carra Crouch alleges that she was plied with alcohol and raped by a TBN employee in Atlanta when she was just 13 – and that her family covered up the incident rather than report it to authorities, to protect TBN’s reputation.

Trinity says it’s all untrue. It accused the Kopers of engaging in an inflammatory smear campaign to divert attention from their own financial sins against Trinity.

Trinity has filed a half-dozen suits against Brittany Crouch Koper and her husband Michael Koper, charging them with stealing some $1.3 million during their years of employ with Trinity, as well as a trove of privileged documents that they’ve inserted into the court record in “dribs and drabs” in an attempt to blackmail and destroy the network. The Kopers said they just want the ship of Trinity’s mission righted and set back on course.

On the rape allegation, Trinity has argued that many adults with a more direct line of authority over Carra Crouch apparently failed to take her to a doctor or to call police after the alleged incident. Those adults would be far more culpable than anyone at Trinity if, indeed, the facts she claims are true, an attorney for Trinity said at Carra Crouch’s deposition in 2014.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.