Bishop G E Patterson Thanks for the Victory Through Jesus Christ

Gilbert Earl Patterson was born in Humboldt, Tenn., on Sept. 22, 1939, a son of Mary Louise and William A. ... Ordained as a church elder in Detroit in 1957, Bishop Patterson attended LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis and the Detroit Bible Institute. In 1975, he founded Temple of Deliverance. Patterson was the editor and publisher of the Bountiful Blessings Magazine with a distribution list of more than 100,000. Patterson is survived by his wife, Louise Patterson. The couple had no children. G.E. Patterson, the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ and a minister for almost 50 years and frequent visitor to St. Louis, died of heart failure Tuesday. He was 67.

The predominantly black Protestant denomination, headquartered in Memphis, claims 6 million members worldwide and traces its origins to the late 19th century.

Patterson was hospitalized in January for an undisclosed illness. He told his followers in 2005 that he suffered from prostate cancer.