{"id":361229,"date":"2026-07-04T18:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/361229\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T18:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:48:10","slug":"robert-b-sloan-jr-president-of-houston-christian-university-dies-at-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/361229\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert B. Sloan Jr., president of Houston Christian University, dies at 77"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 Houston Christian University<\/a> President Robert B. Sloan Jr. has died, the university announced Saturday. He was 77.<\/p>\n

HCU Board Chairman Ramiro Pe\u00f1a said Sloan\u2019s death was sudden and happened Saturday morning. In a statement to the university community, Pe\u00f1a credited Sloan with steering HCU through what he called its most consequential years, pointing to growth in enrollment and academic offerings, new construction and campus expansion, and increased national visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the heaviest heart, I am saddened to announce the sudden death of HCU President Robert B. Sloan, Jr. on this morning, July 4, 2026,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. He added that the university\u2019s \u201cheart and prayers\u201d are with Sloan\u2019s wife, Sue Sloan, and their family.<\/p>\n

Pe\u00f1a described Sloan\u2019s tenure as deeply tied to HCU\u2019s faith mission, saying his leadership helped spur what he called a renewed spiritual focus on campus. \u201cToday, President Robert Sloan\u2019s faith has become sight,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

Sloan took over as president of Houston Baptist University \u2014 later renamed Houston Christian University \u2014 in September 2006, leading the institution for roughly two decades. The HCU Board of Trustees said it would share additional details in consultation with the university\u2019s executive administration as information becomes available.<\/p>\n

Before his years in Houston, Sloan was a prominent figure in Texas higher education. Sloan served as president of Baylor University<\/a> from 1995 to 2005 and later as chancellor from 2005 to 2006. Baylor also notes Sloan previously served on the university\u2019s religion faculty and was the founding dean of Baylor\u2019s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

Sloan was born in Coleman, Texas, and raised in Abilene. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Baylor University in 1970, then completed a Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1973. He later conducted post-graduate research at the University of Bristol and received a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Basel in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Sloan became president of then-Houston Baptist University in 2006, beginning a long tenure that coincided with major changes at the institution.<\/p>\n

In past KPRC 2 reporting, Sloan appeared on Houston Newsmakers<\/a> in January 2023 as the university was navigating its rebrand from Houston Baptist University to Houston Christian University. The shift was framed by university leaders as a way to broaden awareness of the institution while maintaining its Christian mission.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Houston Christian University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. has died, the university announced Saturday. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4414,111217,56,89551,58,57,128258],"class_list":["post-361229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-baylor-university","tag-hcu","tag-houston","tag-houston-christian-university","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-robert-b-sloan-jr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}