Co-founder of the international Christian mission organisation Operation Mobilisation (OM), Dale Rhoton, has died at the age of 88.

According to a statement on the organisation's website, Rhoton died in his sleep on 31 May at a retirement community in Florida, where he had lived since 2022.

Rhoton helped launch what would become OM in 1957 alongside college friends George Verwer and Walter Borchard, following a mission trip to Mexico. The organisation went on to grow into a global Christian movement focused on evangelism and distributing Christian literature.

Over the decades, Rhoton played a key role in developing OM’s work in the Near East and Eastern Europe. He later spent more than 40 years involved in the organisation’s Ship Ministry, including 15 years as its Managing Director, after moving aboard the mission ship Doulos with his family in 1978.

OM’s International Director, Iain Pickett, described him as central to the organisation’s development.

“OM wouldn’t exist without both George and Dale,” he said. “Their lives were a beautiful example of mutual commitment to God, to each other, to OM and to the kingdom.”

Rhoton’s death comes three years after the deaths of his fellow co-founders, Walter Borchard and George Verwer, who both died in April 2023.

Lawrence Tong, OM’s International Director Emeritus, said Rhoton was “an unsung hero in the mission world”.

“George provided energy, while Dale provided credibility,” he said. “In Dale, we have lost a brother, a friend, a pillar.”

He remained involved with OM throughout his life and was known for his focus on prayer, discipleship and supporting mission work around the world.

He is survived by his wife, Elaine, to whom he was married for 64 years, their three children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.