Larry Burkett

Larry Burkett was born in Winter Park, Florida on March 3rd, 1939, the fifth of eight children. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Strategic Air Command.

Upon completion of his military duties, he and his wife Judy returned to central Florida, where he worked in the space program at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He spent the next several years at the space center in charge of an experiments test facility that served the Mercury-, Gemini-, and Apollo-manned space programs. While working at the space center, Larry earned degrees in marketing and finance at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.

Larry left the space center in 1970 to become vice president of an electronics manufacturing firm. In 1972 Larry put his trust and faith in Jesus Christ to guide his life—an event that had a profound effect. In 1973 he left the electronics company to join the staff of a nonprofit ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, as a financial counselor. It was during this time that he began an intense study of what the Bible says about handling money, and he started teaching small groups around the country.

In 1976 Larry Burkett left the campus ministry to form Christian Financial Concepts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries, creating a new organization, Crown Financial Ministries. Larry served as chairman of the board of directors until his death.

Larry has published more than 70 books, sales of which now exceed 11 million copies and include several national best-sellers. The four radio programs, "Money Matters," "How to Manage Your Money," "MoneyWatch," and "A Money Minute," are carried on more than 1,100 radio outlets worldwide. In May of 1996, Southwest Baptist University conferred on Larry an Honorary Doctorate in Economics.

Publications by Larry include What Ever Happened to the American Dream, The Coming Economic Earthquake, Your Finances in Changing Times, Business by the Book, The Financial Planning Workbook, Women Leaving the Workplace, Investing for the Future, Financial Parenting, Debt-Free Living, Hope When It Hurts, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Larry has written four novels: The Illuminati, The THOR Conspiracy, Solar Flare, and Kingdom Come (with Davis Bunn). His latest book was Nothing to Fear, in which he gave an update on this experiences with cancer and cancer treatments.

Until his death on July 4, 2003, Larry and Judy Burkett resided in Gainesville, Georgia. He is survived by his wife Judy, four adult children, and nine grandchildren.