Dede Robertson, the wife of the famous religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, has died at 94 in the couples’ Virginia Beach home. The cause of death has not yet been released.

Dede Robertson was an advocate for social justice and helped develop outreach programs for the disabled and homeless. She was born to middle-class Republicans in Ohio. Her family was catholic. Dede met her future husband when the pair attended Yale University in 1952.

In 1954 the couple made a decision to run away and elope as Pat’s family were Democrats, and the couple feared the two families would never approve of their relationship. Before going into religion, Pat was interested in politics and even ran for president back in 1988 with Dede campaigning by his side. Unlike his Virginia Democratic Senator father, pat was in the Republican party.

Dede remembers the day Pat came home and ripped off a nude portrait from their wall and said he had found God. He also dumped out all of their liquor.

The couple moved to a roach-infested commune to serve the poor in New York because it’s what God wanted Pat to do. Dede has said she was tempted at that time to go back to Ohio. She was unsure if she could follow in her husband’s footsteps, but the bigger picture became clear to her after becoming a reborn Christian.

The church experience gave Dede her own awakening. “I began to see how important what he was doing really was.” She said of the experience.

The couple then embarked on a journey to Portsmouth, Virginia, where Pat bought a small television station. Together the couple founded the Christian Broadcasting Network and launched the network’s first program, The 700 Club.

Dede stayed at home to tend to the couple’s four children until they went to school. Pat believed that women shouldn’t work outside of the home if they have young children unless they have a good reason. Once Dede got the opportunity again, she used her master’s degree from Yale and became a nursing professor.

Pat recently said in a statement his wife “was a woman of great faith, a champion of the gospel, and a remarkable servant of Christ who has left an indelible print on all that she set her hand to during her extraordinary life.”

The couple’s children have credited Dede for being the glue that held the family together, and if it weren’t for Dede, there would be no Christian Broadcasting Network. We hope the family can find comfort at this time, knowing Dede is at peace.