AMERICUS — Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and The Fuller Center for Housing is dead at age 74.
Fuller died about 3 a.m. Tuesday after being taken to the emergency room at Sumter Regional Hospital East.
Fuller’s wife of almost 50 years, Linda, said that an autopsy was to be performed to determine the cause of death. She told the Associated Press that her husband complained of chest pain, headache and difficulty swallowing and died in an ambulance en route from Sumter Regional to an Albany facility.
She also told the AP that the couple had planned to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August with a 100-house blitz build.
“We’ll probably go ahead with the blitz build. Millard would not want people to mourn his death,” she said. “He would be more interested in having people put on a tool belt and build a house for people in need.”
Former President Jimmy Carter, a volunteer for Habitat and personal friend of the Fullers, said in a statement, “Millard Fuller was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known. He used his remarkable gifts as an entrepreneur for the benefit of millions of needy people around the world by providing them with decent housing. As the founder of Habitat for Humanity and later the Fuller Center, he was an inspiration to me, other members of our family, and an untold number of volunteers who worked side by side under his leadership.”
Burial is planned for 11 a.m. today at Koinonia Farm, the birthplace of his concept for a housing ministry. A memorial service is planned for later in the month.
Millard Fuller and his friend Morris Dees became millionaires after founding a direct-marketing company while studying law at the University of Alabama. Fuller gave all his money away when it threatened his marriage, and the couple’s search for a purpose in life ultimately led them to Koinonia, an interracial farming cooperative in rural Sumter County. Along with Koinonia’s founder, Clarence Jordan, the Fullers developed the idea of building housing for the poor, at no interest. That ministry would grow into Habitat.
They founded Habitat in 1976, and the ministry grew around the globe, building more than 300,000 houses and sheltering more than 1.5 million people. Fuller received international recognition for his work and wrote 10 books on the “theology of the hammer.”
Millard Fuller had received more than 50 honorary degrees and in 1996 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In presenting the medal, President Bill Clinton said, “Millard Fuller has done as much to make the dream of homeownership a reality in our country and throughout the world as any living person.”
Among numerous other awards, Fuller was named to the National Housing Hall of Fame and had received the World Changer Award, the World Methodist Peace Award, the Norman Vincent Peale Award, the John W. Gardner Leadership Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award.
“Millard Fuller’s drive and relentless commitment to affordable housing captured people's imagination and changed lives around the world,” said J. Ronald Terwilliger, chair of Habitat for Humanity’s International Board of Directors. “His inspiration lives on in Habitat’s work and through its employees, volunteers, partner families and supporters. We extend our sincere condolences to the Fuller family and are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.”
In addition to his wife, Fuller is survived by a son, Chris Fuller of Macon, and three daughters, Kim Fuller Isakson of Dallas, Texas, Faith Fuller Umstattd of Americus and Georgia Fuller Luedi of Jacksonville, Fla.
The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller died Tuesday after visiting a hospital in Americus, according to his wife, Linda. He was 74.
Discussion
Founder of Habitat for Humanity dies
Millard Fuller to be buried today
- Local News
-
-
Search for survivors continues
Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
-
Curator offers arts a helping hand
If you’ve been to the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts in the past four years, you have seen the quiet art of Bill Shenton.
-
Albino gators visit Wild Adventures
Two rare albino American alligators have joined the other gators at Wild Adventures for the summer.
-
Officers wound man in shootout
A Lanier County man was wounded Saturday during an exchange of gunfire with lawmen, according to a Lanier County Sheriff’s Office press release.
-
Woman fights to live after cancer
To be whole again, the desire that sometimes overwhelms chair-bound Mandy Painter, fuels the Realtor each day through walking lessons during physical therapy and it's also what could see her through a cutting-edge program in Boston, where world-class neurologists can reawaken her cerebellum and see the mother of three to her feet again.
-
North Ashley Street closed following accident
A Sport Utility Vehicle traveling north on North Ashley Street drove into a telephone pole Monday morning, resulting in the closure of the road.
-
Gornto extension half complete
The Gornto Road extension project is more than half-way complete, and could be finished ahead of the one-year deadline contractors were given when the project was approved Oct. 11 by the Valdosta City Council.
-
Nashville honors history, musical tradition
There were more than a few Nashville residents and guests from out of town fiddlin’ around Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of the Georgia Humanities Council and Smithsonian New Harmonies exhibit, celebrating roots music from the state and across the Deep South.
-
Locals, out-of-towners come out for food, fun at Peach Festival
The Morven Peach Festival drew a smaller crowd than usual in its 26th year, but planners weren't complaining.
-
Coliform found in drinking water
The cause of a water quality issue is still under investigation by the City of Valdosta Utilities Department after a water sample taken from a line in the area near the intersection of St. Augustine Road and West Hill Avenue tested positive for coliform bacteria.
- More Local News Headlines
-
