HOUSTON (ABP) — Philanthropist John Baugh of Houston, a major benefactor of moderate Baptist causes and institutions, died March 5 at the age of 91. He has been in declining health for several years.
Baugh, a member of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, was founder of Sysco Corporation. Since its beginning in 1969, it has become North America's leading foodservice marketer and distributor, with $30.3 billion in annual sales and 47,500 employees. He served as chairman of the company's board until 1985 and senior chairman through 1997. He also was a director of the Bank of Houston and had ranching, oil and other business interests.
Baugh was a longtime regent of Baylor University and continued to serve as regent emeritus in recent years. He and his wife were the primary donors behind Baylor's Truett Theological Seminary. By one estimate, he donated more than $20 million to Baylor. He was an outspoken critic of former Baylor president Robert Sloan's effort to make the university a more evangelical university.
Born near Waco, Baugh was a founding trustee of Houston Baptist University and a longtime director of the Baptist Foundation of Texas.
He was also instrumental in founding Texas Baptists Committed, an organization that works to preserve traditional Baptist principles in denominational life. He was author of The Battle for Baptist Integrity, a book examining what he saw as the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, and was a tireless critic of fundamentalist theology.
Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, remembered Baugh as a “dedicated advocate for the Baptist vision of freedom and responsibility in our Christian walk,” adding that Baugh “despised any effort to impose ecclesiastic hierarchical pressure on the conscience of a believer.”
Bill Arnold, president of Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, remembered Baugh as “wanting the best for his church and his denomination, and willing to give of his time and resources to make that happen.”
Baugh received numerous awards from Baylor University, including the W.R. White Service Award, the Alumnus Honaris Causa, the Herbert H. Reynolds Award and the Founders' Medal. A center for entrepreneurship in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business is named in his honor.
He is survived by his wife, Eula Mae, and by their daughter, Barbara, of San Antonio. He recently moved to San Antonio to live with his daughter.
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