Eleven new buildings rose on Oklahoma Baptist University's Bison Hill campus during a single presidency, enrollment climbed by more than 70 percent, and three capital campaigns pushed the endowment to record levels. All of it happened under Bob R. Agee, who served as OBU's 13th president from 1982 to 1998 and later led two national associations of Baptist colleges. Agee died Sept. 26, 2026, in Jackson, Tennessee, at 87, according to Oklahoma Baptist University.

Agee grew up in West Tennessee, formed in the Landmarkist Baptist tradition of the region, and enrolled at Union University in Jackson. He graduated with honors in history and religion in 1960, after four years in which Union's cross country teams won four conference championships and he earned eight athletic letters across cross country, track and tennis, competing in national championship meets in Omaha in 1958 and Chicago in 1959. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University's George Peabody College.

Agee pastored Baptist churches in Tennessee and Kentucky before returning to Union, where he became dean of religious affairs in 1975 and later vice president for religious affairs and special assistant to the president for institutional planning. David Dockery, who later led Union and now serves as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in a Baptist Press tribute that "during the 1970s, for large segments of the institution's constituency, Agee became the face of Union University, an institution that he dearly and deeply loved until the day that he died. His influence on students on the Union campus was legendary, especially on young preachers like Steve Gaines and young biblical scholars like George Guthrie, along with many others, who sensed a call to vocational ministry." Gaines went on to serve as the 61st president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2016 to 2018.

In 1982 Agee was named Oklahoma Baptist University's 13th president. Over the next 16 years, three major capital campaigns funded the W.P. Wood Science Building, the Sarkeys Telecommunication Building, the Jent Alumni Center, the Williamson Nursing Education Center, the Bailey Business Center and the Doris and Jim Taylor Residence Center, according to the Baptist Messenger. OBU opened international study and missions programs in China, Russia and Brazil under his leadership, joined the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities as one of the first two Southern Baptist related schools to do so, and in 1985 earned its first U.S. News and World Report recognition among top ranked liberal arts colleges in the western region. In the early 1990s, Agee was named one of four finalists for the presidency of Southern Seminary but withdrew before the finalist interviews, choosing instead to recommit to OBU. His presidency concluded in 1998 for health reasons, and he and his wife, Nelle, moved back to Jackson.

Agee then spent nearly a decade as executive director of the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, which was renamed the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities during his tenure, and he also led the Consortium for Global Education. He wrote "Faithful Learning and the Christian Scholarly Vocation" in 2003 and "The Reason for the Season" in 2010, along with a memoir, "An Unlikely Story: Memories and Reflections on Life's Journey." Union University inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, 2010, and he was also honored by the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Hall of Fame. He kept returning to Bison Hill, delivering OBU's Founder's Day chapel address in 2020 and, in 2022, entering Union's Bicentennial Hall of Honor alongside Dockery.

Nelle Agee, his wife, taught as an assistant professor of education at OBU and died in 2020. The university named its Bob R. and Nelle H. Agee Residence Center for the couple and established scholarships in their names for international study and leadership. OBU President Heath A. Thomas said Agee "loved OBU, he loved students, and above all, he loved Christ and devoted his life to serving Him," adding that "he and his incredible bride, Nelle, were mentors to Jill and me, a treasure we will carry forever." Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists, called Agee "a titanic influence for the kingdom of God in many ways" whose leadership was "marked by humility, conviction, kindness and being accessible to others."

The buildings Agee raised still anchor Bison Hill, the international programs he opened still send OBU students abroad, and the two national Baptist college associations he later led still carry his imprint on Christian higher education. The students he pastored, taught and presided over, from pulpit ministers to university presidents, absorbed the pairing he insisted on throughout five decades of Baptist education: academic excellence bound to Christian conviction.