AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Bishop Bernard Johnson, left, listens to Rev. Ike during a pre-prayer service interview in Rev. Ike's office in New York, on Tuesday April 28, 1998.

Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II

Reverend Ike preached the power of what he called "positive self-image psychology"

LOS ANGELES - The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, who preached the gospel of material prosperity to millions nationwide as Reverend Ike, has died. He was 74.

Bishop E. Bernard Jordan, a minister and family spokesman, told The New York Times that Eikerenkoetter died Tuesday in Los Angeles. Jordan says Reverend Ike suffered a stroke in 2007 and never fully recovered.

At his United Church Science of Living Institute, housed in a former movie theater in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, Reverend Ike preached the power of what he called "positive self-image psychology" to his 5,000 parishioners.

In the 1970s, he was one of the first evangelists to reach an audience of millions through television.