President Howard William Hunter, a longtime general authority who served for almost nine months as the 14th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at 8:35 a.m. Friday in his downtown Salt Lake residence. He was 87.
With the church leader at the time of his death were his wife, Inis; his nurse, who had been attending him; and his personal secretary, Lowell Hardy.Arrangements for President Hunter's funeral in the Salt Lake Tabernacle are pending, said church spokesman Don LeFevre.
President Hunter was hospitalized twice since mid-December, the first time just after his return from Mexico where he organized the church's 2,000th stake, and the second for treatment of exhaustion in mid-January, just after he dedicated the Bountiful Temple.
After President Hunter's release from the hospital in January, the church announced that he was being treated for prostate cancer that had spread to the bones. His doctor described his condition then as serious, and he had not returned to work since that time.
President Hunter became president of the church on June 5, 1994, following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson on Memorial Day, May 30, 1994. President Hunter was sustained as president of the church at the October 1994 Semiannual General Conference.
With President Hunter's death, the church's First Presidency was dissolved, and the Council of the Twelve became the governing body of the church. President Hunter's counselors, Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson, took their places - first and second - within the 14-member council.
Sometime soon, following President Hunter's funeral, council members will sustain a new church president. If historical precedent holds, the council's senior apostle and president, President Gordon B. Hinckley, 84, will succeed President Hunter as the church's 15th president.
The tenure of President Hunter - eight months and 26 days or 270 days - was the shortest ever for a church president. The previous shortest stewardship was the one year, five months and 19 days - 537 days - by President Harold B. Lee, who served as prophet from July 7, 1972, until his death on Dec. 26, 1973.
President Hunter had served as a general authority since Oct. 10, 1959, when he was sustained as a member of the Council of the Twelve. He was named acting president of the Council of the Twelve on Nov. 11, 1985, because of the deteriorating health of the senior council member, President Marion G. Romney, who died in May 1988. He was set apart as president of the Council of the Twelve in June 1988.
The day after he was set apart as church president, President Hunter asked members to be more Christ-like and urged anyone who had been offended or transgressed to return to the fold.
"To the membership of the church, in every country of the world, and to people everywhere, I extend my love," President Hunter said at a news conference the day after his ordination.
"To those who are hurt and struggling and afraid, we say let us stand with you and dry your tears," he said.
President Hunter was ordained president during a meeting of the church's apostles in the Salt Lake Temple. His counselors were President Hinckley and President Monson, who also were President Benson's coun-selors.
Reading from a prepared statement, President Hunter said he also wanted to make two invitations to church members.
"First of all, I would invite all members of the church to live with evermore attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the love and compassion he displayed," he said.
Secondly, he asked the then-8.7 million member church to make their temples "the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred convenants."
"Let us be a temple-attending and temple-loving people."
In his opening address following his sustaining at the October 1994 conference, President Hunter thanked members for their support and told them of his tears shed and prayers offered "in a desire to be equal to this high and holy calling."
He walked slowly and cautiously with the aid of a walker, but, standing unassisted at the pulpit, he calmly and deliberately set aside his personal questioning of why his life had been preserved. "My walk is slower now, but my mind is clear, and my spirit is young," he noted.
He also repeated his invitation for more Christ-like living among church members, encouraged disaffected members to "come back" and asked members to be worthy to worship in the church temples.
He devoted his entire priesthood talk to counseling husbands and fathers on their responsibilities.
In the Sunday afternoon address, President Hunter re-emphasized Christ-like behavior and temple attendance and invoked his blessing on church members.
He also dedicated the two temples that were completed during his stewardship - the Orlando and Bountiful temples. And in October 1994 he visited the conference of the stake where he once presided - Pasadena California.
Two months later, he created the Mexico City Contreras Stake, the church's 2,000th. On a November weekend 19 years before that, he and Elder J. Thomas Fyans, then an assistant to the Twelve and now a general authority emeritus, created 15 Mexico City stakes out of five.
During his early months as president, President Hunter also visited Illinois, Switzerland, Arizona, Hawaii and California.
The intensely private and soft-spoken church president broke several molds among 20th-century LDS leaders. He didn't serve a church mission, his father was not a member of the LDS Church for most of his life, and he never lived in Utah until he was called as an apostle, although both parents were born in Utah.
He also was the first church president born in this century.
Former President David O. McKay called President Hunter in October 1959 to fill the vacancy in the Twelve created when President Henry D. Moyle became second counselor in the First Presidency, following the death of President Stephen L Richards.
Years later, retelling this momentous event that would forever change his life, President Hunter said, "President McKay greeted me with a pleasant smile and a warm handshake and said to me, `Sit down, President Hunter. I want to talk to you. The Lord has spoken. You are called to be one of the special witnesses, and tomorrow you will be sustained as a member of the Council of the Twelve.' Tears came to my eyes, and I could not speak."
He said President McKay asked him not to share news of the calling with anyone but his wife until he was sustained the next day in conference. He remembered phoning his wife, Clara, and the long silence that followed on the line as both were overcome with emotion.
President Hunter came well-prepared to his assignment as a general authority.
His major church service began when he served as bishop of the El Sereno Ward in the Pasadena Stake from 1940 to 1946 - an experience he called a "glorious work and great blessing."
The day he was released as bishop, he began service as president of the stake high priests quorum and in September 1949 was called to the high council. In 1950, he began a nearly 10-year assignment as president of the Pasadena Stake. He served in that capacity until being named to the Council of the Twelve. He also served on the temple committee while the Los Angeles Temple was being constructed and as chairman of the Southern California and the Los Angeles welfare regions.
During this busy time, President Hunter earned a reputation as a progressive leader with an ability to organize and carry out programs with determination and perseverance.
He brought these same traits with him to the Twelve. As a member of the Twelve, he was instrumental in the successful de-vel-op-ment of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii, serving as its president and chairman of the board from January 1965 to April 1976. He was a trustee of the Church College of Hawaii from 1959 to 1975.
He and Elder LeGrand Richards also oversaw the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden project in Jerusalem in the 1970s. The garden was dedicated in October 1979.
In 1970, he was named church historian, succeeding Joseph Fielding Smith, who had held the position since 1921. President Hunter filled that position until 1972.
He was director and president of the Genealogical Society for eight years. Goals and guidelines established under his direction still point the way for the church's genealogical department, now called the Family History Department. He also directed the church's West European Mission and served as a member of the church's Board of Education.
President Hunter's career took many turns, from golf caddy and newsboy to professional musician to businessman-lawyer to full-time church leader.
"As I look back on my life, I have often wondered why certain things have come about, and I realize they are all part of the process that seems to give us training for what we need to do," President Hunter once said. "I think there are echoes from nearly everything we do in life that give us background as we attempt in our humble way to help others."
President Hunter became known over the years for his own humble, loving approach to people. He said he's always remembered the advice his mother gave him when he first became a bishop in California: "It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice."
President Hunter also said, "There is a tendency for man to put himself in the center of the universe and expect others to conform to his wants and needs and desires. Yet nature does not honor that erroneous assumption. The central role in life belongs to God. Instead of asking him to do our bidding, we should seek to bring ourselves into harmony with his will and thus continue our progress."
President Hunter was born Nov. 14, 1907, in Boise to John William and Nellie Marie Rasmussen Hunter. His father was a streetcar operator on an interurban line that served the Boise River Valley. As a youth, he loved animals and regularly brought stray pets home. He joined the church at age 12, although he had attended regularly with his mother before that.
President Hunter remembered sitting in sacrament meetings with the other boys and feeling left out when it came time to pass the sacrament. "I would slump down in my seat," he said. "I felt so left out. I wanted to pass the sacrament but couldn't, because I had not been baptized. I finally prevailed upon my father to allow me to be bap-tized."
He was baptized, along with his sister, in the public swimming pool and was confirmed at a little frame chapel. His father later joined the church, and President Hunter was sealed to his parents in the Arizona Temple on his 46th birthday.
President Hunter grew up working numerous odd jobs and spending time on Scouting and music. He eventually became the second Eagle Scout in Boise, within several days of another young man.
After high school graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, where he started working in a bank. While living there, he met his future wife, Clara May Jeffs, at a church dance.
They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 10, 1931. They had three sons - Howard William Jr. (who died at 7 months); John Jacob Hunter, who resides in Ojai, Calif., and Richard Allen Hunter, of San Jose, Calif. President Hunter's first wife, Clara, died Oct. 9, 1983, after a long illness. He is also preceded in death by a sister, Dorothy Rasmussen, who died April 9, 1994. President Hunter has 18 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
He was able to ordain John and Richard high priests and later bishops.
During those early married years, President Hunter worked for a bank, for the state banking department and as a title examiner for the Los Angeles Flood Control District.
President Hunter made a major career decision in 1934 when he decided to go to law school at night. Five years later, he launched his law practice.
When he was named to the Council of the Twelve, President Hunter was a leading Southern California corporate lawyer. He was a member of the Los Angeles and California State bar associations and sat on the boards of some two dozen corporations, including several large industrial and land-acquisition companies.
In 1990, he received a certificate in Pasadena, Calif., honoring him for 50 years of service to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In November 1994, the day before his 87th birthday, he was honored for his leadership of the Genealogical Society in a Tabernacle service that also commemorated that organization's 100th anniversary.
His hobbies included compiling a personal church library, including many rare, out-of-print pamphlets. He also did considerable family history research, tracing his father's line back to the 1600s. He had a lifelong interest in history.
He married Inis Bernice Egan on April 12, 1990, in the Salt Lake Temple only hours after telling his fellow apostles of his plans. He and Sister Egan had known each other from their California days.
President Hunter had enjoyed relatively good health until 1980 when he suffered a heart attack and had surgery to remove a benign tumor. He had quadruple bypass surgery in 1986 and surgeries for bleeding ulcers and lower back trouble in 1987.
In the April 1988 Annual General Conference he pitched backward from the pulpit as he was delivering his conference talk. He broke three ribs but finished the sermon.
In December 1990, he was in LDS Hospital for pneumonia and two years later spent 13 days there for treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding.
Complications from gall bladder surgery in May 1993 put him in a coma for three weeks and was nearly fatal. He ultimately recovered enough to return to work.
He was hospitalized in January 1994 for undisclosed reasons.He also was hospitalized briefly in December 1994, and again for exhaustion after the Bountiful Temple dedication the following month.