The Rev. Dr. Frederick K.C. “Fred” Price has passed on. The celebrated evangelist died at a Torrance hospital on Feb. 12.
Born in Santa Monica circa Jan. 3, 1932, to lapsed Jehovah’s Witness parents, Price began going to church with his fellow Dorsey High School classmate and future wife, Betty Ruth. By the late 1950s, he’d begun ministering at an African Methodist Episcopal church in the resort community of Val Verde, a popular haven for Black people in the segregated Santa Clarita Valley. He later transitioned to other churches in the West Los Angeles area.
By 1970, Price was called to embrace the tenets of the charismatic movement, and its mantra of prosperity through faith. His teachings struck a chord within the psyche of many Black Christians, and by 1973 he was able to found the Crenshaw Christian Center in Inglewood (https://www.crenshawchristiancenter.net/).
In time his congregation grew to the point where they could not assemble under a single roof, and towards this purpose, Price acquired the former campus of Pepperdine University at Vermont and 79th Street, in 1981. He was able to erect the 10,000-plus seat FaithDome in 1989. Price was able to realize his goal of establishing a church in Manhattan, New York, and his flock eventually reached 28,000 by the time he turned over the pulpit to his son, Fred Jr., in 2008.
Price’s legacy includes a presence as a television evangelist, establishment of elementary and high schools, authorship of dozens of faith-based books, a hold of doctorates and other honorariums, and breaking ground in the emerging technology of social media.
A few weeks ago, the Reverend and his wife contracted the coronavirus from which he expired, and both were hospitalized. Betty Price has reportedly stabilized.
Apostle Frederick K.C. Price leaves behind four children including current pastor Fred, Jr., 10 grandchildren (including NBA basketball player Allen Crabbe, Jr.) and four great-grandchildren.
