Alpha Rex Emmanuel Humbard (August 13, 1919 – September 21, 2007) was an American television evangelist whose Cathedral of Tomorrow show was aired on over 600 stations at the peak of its popularity.
[3] Humbard's $4 million Cathedral of Tomorrow church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, was built in 1958 specifically to accommodate television equipment, crew and chorus, as well as seating for 5,400 people.
Over time they owned a girdle factory in Brooklyn, an office tower in Akron, a college on Mackinac Island, an advertising agency, an apartment building, and other assets.
Humbard said that the SEC did not allow him to count expected bequests from wills as assets, that the ministry never missed an interest payment, and that the investors were not worried about losing their money.
During that time, though, the SEC investigation mentioned above occurred and Humbard had to stop construction of the tower, with the FCC subsequently deleting WCOT's authorization in 1976.
After retiring to Lantana, Florida, in the 1980s with his wife, Maude Aimee (whom he married in 1942),[1] Humbard was still often seen on television broadcasts and at public appearances preaching Christianity.