ORLANDO - For more than 50 years, Henry Brandt traveled the world using the Bible to counsel others.
No destination was too far to go for Brandt. He made six visits to Africa in one year and even went as far as the Brazilian rain forest to provide marriage counseling to a missionary couple."He got to the source of why a person was angry and helped that person be free from that anger," said Chris Anderson, Brandt's stepdaughter.Brandt died of complications from Parkinson's disease at his home in Singer Island near West Palm Beach on Nov. 24. He was 92. His family, friends and the many people he counseled will gather this week in Orlando to honor his life.
Brandt was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1916, the youngest of 10 children. He grew up in Detroit and received his bachelor's degree from Houghton College in New York, his master's in clinical psychology from Wayne State University and his doctorate degree in marriage and family relations from Cornell University.
Brandt moved to Florida in 1987 with his wife, Jo, who became smitten with him after seeing him speak at a Campus Crusade for Christ event in California 35 years ago.Brandt converted to Christianity as a young man and sought to combine his educational background with his faith to solve people's everyday problems, his wife said. He hosted several radio programs for Moody Bible Institute and taught at various universities, including his alma mater, Houghton College, North American Baptist Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.He also wrote several books on counseling and biblical teachings, including The Heart of the Problem and Soul Prescription. In 2006, he founded the Henry Brandt Foundation in Montana to make his teachings available to a wider audience."There were thousands of people who have said he changed my life," Jo Brandt said.Brandt, who reveled in public speaking, was rendered almost speechless by Parkinson's disease in the days leading up to his death, but he managed to tell his wife how much he loved her, Chris Anderson said.The day before Brandt's death, Anderson and her mother sang old gospel hymns by his bed. As they sang the last verse of "Jesus Loves Me," Brandt began moving his lips, mouthing the words "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so," Anderson said."He didn't have the strength to make the sounds, but his lips were moving," she said.He died at home the next day, looking out over the ocean, Anderson said.In addition to Anderson and his wife, Brandt is survived by his children and stepchildren, Richard Brandt of Chicago; Beth Blanchard of Richmond, Ky.; Suzanne Redhed of Cleveland; Juliette Anderson of Moscow, Idaho; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Brandt's memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Orlando. Quattlebaum-Holleman-Burse Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
