April 13, 2007
Ed Charon, 71, a retired pastor who gained fame for ripping apart telephone books, often as he preached, died Sunday in Sutherlin, Ore., when he collapsed after returning from an Easter church service, his wife, Betty, said.
In September, Charon tore through 56 Portland white directories, each 1,006 pages, in three minutes, claiming a Guinness World Record for the fifth time.
With that, the former pastor at Umpqua Trinity Fellowship in Roseburg, Ore., retired from performing such feats for the record books. He had taken up tearing directories in 1998, at age 63, after seeing someone do it on television.
A native of Edmore, N.D., Charon had massive hands — a 16 1/2 ring size, which is about six sizes larger than a typical man's.
"The Lord is using this as a door opener," he told the Baker City Herald in Oregon in 2005. "I gather a crowd wherever I go."
Charon visited prisons to minister to inmates and to spread the message that they could make positive changes in their lives.
He also appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," where comedian Robin Williams dubbed him "The Reverend Shredder."
