Robert B. Sloan Jr., a New Testament scholar and one of the most consequential leaders in modern Baptist higher education, died on July 4, 2026, at the age of 77. For nearly twenty years he served as president of Houston Christian University, formerly Houston Baptist University, and before that he led Baylor University through one of the most ambitious eras of expansion in its history.

Robert Sloan was born in Coleman, Texas, in 1949 and grew up in Abilene, where he graduated from Cooper High School in 1967. He went on to Baylor University, earning a bachelor's degree cum laude in 1970. His education then carried him far beyond Texas. He completed a Master of Divinity magna cum laude at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1973, pursued postgraduate research in church history at the University of Bristol in England, and in 1978 received a Doctor of Theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland, a rigorous European program that shaped him into a serious biblical scholar.

Sloan's academic career began in the classroom. He taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary before joining the Department of Religion at Baylor University in 1983, where he became a respected New Testament scholar and held the George W. Truett Chair in Evangelism. In 1993 he was named founding dean of the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor, building a new graduate school of theology from the ground up. That work established him as both a builder of institutions and a teacher of pastors, a combination that would define the rest of his life.

In 1995 Sloan became the twelfth president of Baylor University. Over the following decade he pressed the university to raise its national profile while deepening its Christian identity. In 2002 he unveiled a long-range plan known as Baylor 2012, a detailed vision to move the university toward the top tier of American research institutions without setting aside its faith commitments. According to Baylor University, Sloan authored two books, edited several others, and published more than fifty articles in scholarly and ecumenical journals, a body of work that revealed the scholar behind the administrator. He served as Baylor's president until 2005 and then as chancellor into 2006.

In September 2006 Sloan began the chapter that would occupy the remainder of his career, accepting the presidency of Houston Baptist University. Over the next two decades he presided over a period of striking growth. As documented by Houston Christian University, overall enrollment climbed by well over one hundred percent during his tenure, the institution reached record student numbers, and the campus expanded with new academic buildings and additional programs. He founded Houston Theological Seminary in 2016 and guided the university through its 2022 renaming from Houston Baptist University to Houston Christian University, a change meant to clarify its mission and support its ambitions. Reporting from KWTX noted that he was still serving as the university's president at the time of his death, having led the school for roughly twenty years.

Beyond the lecture hall and the president's office, Sloan remained a minister at heart. Over fifteen years he served as interim pastor at more than two dozen churches across Texas and Oklahoma while teaching full time, and in his later years he took on pastoral leadership at Heights Church in Houston. He was also a writer of fiction, authoring the four-volume Hamelin Stoop fantasy series between 2016 and 2019, stories that carried the themes of faith and courage he cared about into a form younger readers could enjoy.

Colleagues remembered him as a leader of conviction and warmth. Announcing his death, Houston Christian University board chairman Ramiro Pena said, "Today, President Robert Sloan's faith has become sight." Edward Crowell, executive director of Heights Church, recalled, "It was one of the high distinctions of my professional life to work directly with Robert in leading our church through some of her most challenging days." As click2houston reported, the university's board extended its condolences to his wife, Sue, and their family.

Robert Sloan often said his greatest pride was his family. He was the husband of Sue, the father of seven children, and the grandfather of twenty-four grandchildren, a household that grew as large and as deeply rooted as the institutions he built.

Robert B. Sloan Jr. leaves behind universities that are stronger and larger than he found them, a seminary he raised from an idea, and generations of students, pastors, and scholars formed under his care. He spent his life insisting that rigorous learning and living faith belonged together, and he built lasting places where that conviction could take hold. His legacy endures in the classrooms he filled, the leaders he mentored, and the enduring institutions that will carry his name forward for years to come.