Saying goodbye to Rev. Ike by Andrew Keshner Warm remembrances and electrifying songs filled the air during a Saturday afternoon memorial service for the late Reverend Doctor Frederick Joseph Eikerenkoetter II, known as “Reverend Ike,” who died late last month at the age of 74. Held at the Palace Cathedral on the corner of W. 175th Street and Broadway on Aug. 15, the program stretched on for almost six hours as pastors, spiritual leaders and officials paid their respects to a man who found a national audience preaching the pursuit of material prosperity. “Grief does resolve into celebration and that’s what we’re here to do today,” said his son, Bishop Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter III, addressing the more than 500-person crowd. Bishop Xavier described his close relationship with his father, calling the last three months “tender” and filled with laughter and tears. Bishop Xavier, who will continue to lead his father’s congregation, called the Christ United Church, spoke of Rev. Ike’s impact as a preacher who was ahead of his time.  Through sermons and a global media network that included radio and television, Rev. Ike openly praised the accumulation of wealth as a part of his spiritual outlook. The memorial booklet cited one of his oft-repeated quotes: “I gave up being black a long time ago. The only color I recognize, for that matter, is green. I’m not black, I’m green!” At one point, audience members were asked to greet their neighbors during the memorial service by saying, “Money is my friend and money wants a family.”
Bishop Xavier addressed detractors who considered his father “a money-grubbing charlatan” by noting that “A shallow person cannot perceive depth” and adding that his father “didn’t give a rat’s hind quarters about what people thought of him. God bless him. I’m still learning that one from him.” Bishop Xavier believed his father’s work to be on a level with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. “It takes working from all sides, all angles,” he said. In his remarks, U.S. Representative Charles Rangel echoed the idea that Rev. Ike’s messages helped contribute to the civil rights movement in his own way, eventually resulting in the election of President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Eugene Farber, longtime attorney to Rev. Ike, remembered him as a “brilliant” businessman and someone who always looked to help others. “It was a privilege to have known him. I shall sorely miss him,” he said. Pastor Sal Sabino pledged to work in order to rename the block “Reverend Ike Square,” sparking applause from the crowd. “The truth is he bought this whole square, so why deny him?” Rev. Ike purchased the former 5,000-seat Loews Theater in 1969, transforming it into his church and, true to his mission, a money-making performance center that now features performers such as Bob Dylan. But the service had more showmanship than somberness. Cameras set on booms constantly swooped over the crowd to give dynamic, panning shots for followers watching the event live over the Internet. And music kept bringing the crowd to its feet. Performers included Sarah Dash, a onetime member of Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles, and Rev. Shirley Caesar. Occasionally, speakers would remember how Rev. Ike would pick them up for a lunch date or an appointment with luxurious cars like a Rolls Royce or a limousine lined with mink. In fact, three Rolls Royces (two black and one green) could be seen parked along a backdoor entrance on W. 176th between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue. Audience members remembered Rev. Ike with fondness as they left. Bishop Horace K. William, pastor and founder of the Word of God Christian Center in Newark, ordained by Rev. Ike in 1978, called the ceremony “quite touching,” saying he was “all those things and more.” Queens resident Ottie W. Ball began listening to Rev. Ike on the radio in the mid-1960s before attending the Palace Theater regularly through the early-1970s and being baptized by him in 1985. Ball remembered how her sister, Lucille, was visiting New York City from Louisiana in the early ’80s to get a second opinion on hip surgery. When the two attended services with Rev. Ike, Ball said he spoke of someone in the crowd who was due for a second opinion on surgery without knowing of Lucille. With her last trip to the Palace Theater on Easter Sunday in 2003, Ball came back in search of a sense of closure. “I’m okay now. I came to see and hear the service. He’s a man of God,” she said. The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
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