W. Stanley Mooneyham, former president of World Vision, died June 3 of kidney failure at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 65. Mooneyham was president of World Vision from 1969 to 1982, during which time World Vision’s budget grew by about 600 percent and its staff tripled.
“Stan’s impact on World Vision was immeasurable,” World Vision President Robert Seiple said. “Much of our significant growth, especially through television, came under his leadership. Additionally, the energy he gave to the Vietnamese boat people through Operation Seasweep stands as one of the pillars of World Vision folklore.”
Prior to joining World Vision, Mooneyham was a special assistant to Billy Graham, coordinating major congresses on evangelism in Berlin in 1966 and Singapore in 1968. Mooneyham was ordained as a Free Will Baptist minister in 1949 and led the National Association of Free Will Baptists from 1962 to 1965. He held positions with the National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Press Association. He wrote numerous books, including Dancing on the Strait and Narrow, published by Harper & Row in 1989.
At the time of his death, Mooneyham was minster at large for Palm Desert (Calif.) Community Presbyterian Church and chairman of the Global Aid Foundation, an organization providing relief to Kurdish refugees. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; former wife, LaVerda Mooneyham; two daughters, two sons, and one grandson.
