President Thomas Spencer Monson, 16th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 90 years old.
A member of the Quorum of the Twelve at age 36, he spent 54 years as a General Authority, a member of the highest levels of leadership in the church, including 32 years in the First Presidency, the presiding or governing body of the church, and nearly 10 years as president. He also served as counselor to three church presidents: second counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson and President Howard W. Hunter, and for nearly 13 years, first counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley.
In April 2008, when asked his thoughts on becoming the next president of the church, he said, “I’ve always followed the philosophy, ‘Serve where you’re called, not where you’ve been or where you might be. Serve where you’re called.’”
In an interview on his 81st birthday, when asked to describe what he would consider an ideal gift, he said, “Do something for someone else on that day to make his or her life better. Find someone who is having a hard time, or is ill, or lonely, and do something for them.”
He became part of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 4, 1963, and was ordained an apostle October 10, 1963, at age 36. He served as president of the church’s Canadian Mission, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, from 1959 to 1962. Prior to that, he served in the presidency of the Temple View Stake in Salt Lake City, and as a bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in that stake.
Born in Salt Lake City on August 21, 1927, to G. Spencer and Gladys Condie Monson, he attended Salt Lake City public schools and graduated cum laude from the University of Utah in 1948, receiving a degree in business management. He did graduate work and served as a member of the College of Business faculty at the University of Utah. He later received his MBA degree from Brigham Young University. In April 1981, Brigham Young University conferred upon President Monson the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa. He was given the honorary degree doctor of humane letters by Salt Lake Community College in June 1996 and an honorary doctor of business from the University of Utah in May 2007.
President Monson served in the United States Navy near the close of World War II. He married Frances Beverly Johnson on October 7, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple. They were the parents of three children, eight grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.
President Monson became associated with Deseret News in 1948, where he served as an executive in the advertising division of that newspaper and the Newspaper Agency Corporation. Later he was named sales manager of the Deseret News Press, one of the West’s largest commercial printing firms, rising to the position of general manager, which he held at the time of his appointment to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1963. He served for many years as chairman of the board of Deseret News Publishing Co., was president of Printing Industry of Utah and a member of the board of directors of Printing Industries of America.
Beginning in 1969, President Monson served as a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He received Scouting’s highest awards given for extraordinary leadership and service.
In December 1981, President Monson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the President’s Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives. He served in this capacity until December 1982, when the work of the task force was completed.
President Monson was awarded the University of Utah’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1966. He was also the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America’s Silver Beaver Award (1971), its Silver Buffalo Award (1978) and international Scouting’s highest award, the Bronze Wolf (1993). In 1997 he received the Minuteman Award from the Utah National Guard, as well as Brigham Young University’s Exemplary Manhood Award. In 1998, he and Sister Monson were each given the Continuum of Caring Humanitarian Award by the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph Villa.
