QUITO, Ecuador (BP)–Philip A. Workman, a Southern Baptist International Mission Board missionary to Ecuador, died in his sleep early June 20 in Quito, Ecuador. He was 46.
The cause of death was unknown. A co-worker was unable to awaken him for an early plane flight, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Ecuadorian officials were to perform an autopsy.
Workman, his wife, Sylvia, and their two children, David, 14, and Sarah, 9, had just returned to Ecuador in May from a six-month furlough in the United States and were in the process of relocating from their former home in Loja to Esmeraldas to work with a church-planting team.
The Workmans were appointed in 1995. A native of Kewanee, Ill., he graduated from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He was a church planter and pastor with the North American Mission Board in Laughlin, Nev., from 1985-95.
Memorial services were held in Ecuador among missionaries June 20 and were expected to be scheduled in Illinois after the family’s return to the United States June 21.
