Leonard James Arrington, distinguished LDS Historian, mentor, biographer and scholar, died Thursday, Feb. 11 at his home in Salt Lake City of heart complications. He was 81.
Born July 2, 1917 on a farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, Leonard was the third of eleven children of Noah Wesley and Edna Corn Arrington. As a young man, Leonard excelled in academics, raised prize winning chickens, and was a state and national officer of Future Farmers ofAmerica.
He received his bachelors degree in economics from the University of Idaho at Moscow, and his doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was named to numerous honorary societies including Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Pi and Phi Alpha Theta and received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Idaho and Utah State University.
He married Grace Fort, April 24, 1943 in Raleigh, North Carolina. They were later sealed in the Logan LDS Temple. She died March 10, 1982. He married Harriet Ann Horne November 19, 1983 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.
Dr. Arrington served as LDS Church Historian from 1972-1982, the first professionally trained historian to fill that office. He taught economics at Utah State University for twenty-six years and was a Fulbright Professor of American Economics at the University of Genova, Italy. He also taught history at the University of California at Los Angeles and at Brigham Young University where he was the LeMuel H. Redd Professor of Church History and was Director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute of Church History. He served three years with the U.S. Armed Forces in North Africa and Italy during World War II.
He served in the LDS Church in the USU Stake Presidency, High Council, Sunday School and MIA. He was a gifted teacher and speaker. His service in professional organizations included president of the Western History Association, president of the Mormon History Association of which he was a founder and president of the Agricultural Historical Association. He was elected to the American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch and was a member of the Society of American Historians and the Economic History Association as well as other professional societies. Among his many honors he received the prestigious Evans Award for History and Biography and the Governor's Award in the Humanities. He helped institute the Journal of Mormon History and the Journal of Western History. He was fondly referred to as the dean of Mormon History.
He has authored twenty-one books on American, Western and Mormon history and biography including the landmark publication, Great Basin Kingdom, and the award-winning biography, Brigham Young, American Moses and his most recent Adventures of a Church Historian. He was a prolific writer having published hundreds of articles in professional journals and publications.
Survivors include his wife Harriet, Salt Lake City; sons James Wesley (Lisa), Orem, Utah; Carl Wayne (Chris), Larchmont, New York; Susan Madsen (Dean) Hyde Park, Utah; step-daughters Annette (Robert) Rogers, Phoenix, Arizona; Heidi (Jeffrey) Swinton; stepsons Frederick C. Sorensen and Stephen (Jane) Moody Salt Lake City, Utah; nine grandchildren and 10 step-grandchildren.; brothers, Kenneth R. and Donald C., Twin Falls, Idaho; Wayne, Sacramento, California; Ralph M., Mesa, Arizona; and Ross L. Vacaville, California; sisters Marie Davidson, Burley, Idaho, and Doris Elaine Shelley, Twin Falls, Idaho.
Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 12 noon, in the Parley's First Ward Chapel, 2350 South 2100 East, Salt Lake City. Friends may call Monday evening 6:00-8:00p.m. at Larkin Sunset Lawn Mortuary 2350 East 1300 South or at 10 a.m. prior to the service at the ward. A funeral service will also be held in Hyde Park, Cache County at the Hyde Park Stake Center. 535 East 200 South. Friends may call at the Cranney Mortuary, 420 East 1800 North, Logan, Tuesday evening from 6-8 p.m., and Wednesday starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Stake Center. Interment in the Logan City Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers contributions are suggested to the Leonard J. Arrington Archives, Utah State University Special Collections c/o Ann Buttars, 3000 Old Main Hill, Logan, Ut, 84322-3000 or to the Mormon History Association's Leonard Arrington Memorial Mesa Cottage Project, c/o Barnard Silver, 4391 Carol Jane Dr., SLC 84124.
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