Bob Agee, the second-longest-serving president of Oklahoma Baptist University, died Sept. 26 just four days shy of his 88th birthday.
Agee led the Shawnee, Okla., school from 1982 to 1998 and is credited with shaping the school amid political and theological change. He was the university’s 13th president and was outpaced in tenure only by John Wesley Raley, who served from 1934 to 1961.
Agee stepped into the role at a time of tremendous change among Oklahoma Baptists and Southern Baptists. Just three years earlier, conservatives had launched a plan to take control of the Southern Baptist Convention. OBU had been a bastion of independent thought amid a sea of conservatism in the state. His predecessor as president, Eugene Hall, served only five years, and no other president between Raley and Agee served more than four years.
Agee walked a fine line balancing academic freedom for faculty while addressing concerns from pastors and lay leaders across the state that the school was becoming too liberal.
“He understood that academic excellence and faithful Christian discipleship belong together, and he helped OBU live out that conviction with clarity and purpose,” said current President Heath A. Thomas. “His vision for excellence at OBU is a legacy we proudly carry.”
Agee led the school through years of enrollment growth, including record enrollment of more than 2,000 students on campus in 1994. He expanded the campus, garnered national recognition and grew the university’s endowment from $11 million to $60 million. During his tenure, he oversaw three capital campaigns and built six new buildings.
During his presidency, the university developed international programs in China, Russia and Brazil and expanded opportunities for students to participate in missions and international study.
Agee came to the Oklahoma post from his alma mater, Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where he served as a professor, dean and vice president for religious affairs. He also served as pastor of Baptist churches in Tennessee and Kentucky.
After leaving OBU, he served nine years as executive director of the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, which later became the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities. He also served as executive director of the Consortium for Global Education.
In addition to undergraduate work at Union University, Agee earned master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from George Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Nelle Hulme Agee. He is survived by two daughters, Denise Allen of Jackson, Tenn., and Robyn Hari of Brentwood Tenn., as well as four granddaughters and eight great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Monday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. at the Church at Sugar Creek in Humboldt, Tenn.