As Latter-day Saints anticipate the opening of their faith's 177th Semiannual General Conference on Saturday, many are wondering who will be named as second counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church following the death of President James E. Faust on Aug. 10.
Known by colleagues as both compassionate and exceptionally competent, President Faust had addressed recent general conference sessions from a sitting position. However, his death at age 87 came as something of a surprise to church members, who often have heard President Gordon B. Hinckley speak about his own advanced age.
President Hinckley is 97, and he told Latter-day Saints at President Faust's funeral that saying goodbye was a challenge. "This is a time of deep emotion and a difficult assignment for me. I've lost a close friend and a wise and able counselor."
President Hinckley recalled his early association with President Faust, when they both worked as stake leaders in the same part of Salt Lake City. From that point, "I watched him as he progressed up the ladder of church administration. And in 1995, when I was called as president of the church, I knew I wanted him for a counselor."
In those days, President Faust was physically "sharp and bright. He was able to get about without difficulty. Then illness hit him. He had trouble with his back. One thing led to another. He had difficulty walking. He maneuvered that Jazzy (scooter) like a taxi driver," President Hinckley quipped to knowing laughter from the congregation.
He recalled President Faust's early days as a farm boy, an athlete and a missionary in Brazil, a place that became so dear he "never got over his love for the people of that nation."
President Hinckley said President Faust was scheduled to participate in the Curitiba Brazil Temple dedication early next year, in the place where he baptized the first LDS family in that nation several decades earlier. "Now none of that is possible. It is all behind us. For him it will simply not be."
President Faust was set apart as second counselor to President Hinckley on March 12, 1995, and served there for nearly 12 1/2 years. He was ordained an apostle on Oct. 1, 1978, at the age of 58, and served in the Quorum of the Twelve for 16 years.
One of his last notable public appearances was on June 23, 2007, the occasion of President Hinckley's 97th birthday and also the dedication of the new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center at Provo's Brigham Young University.
"These past 12 years have been a tremendous blessing to serve with him and Thomas S. Monson and see quite literally the Lord working through a prophet," President Faust said during the dedication.
During his years as a general authority, he was president of the church's international mission, general authority adviser for South America, executive director of the Church Curriculum Department, director of Welfare Services and editor of the church's three monthly magazines. He also had served as managing director for the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA.
President Faust was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve on Oct. 6, 1972. He was called to the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976. He also served as stake president of the Cottonwood Stake (1956-68), on the high council in the Big Cottonwood Stake (1947-48) and as bishop in the Big Cottonwood Ward (1949-55) and as counselor in the bishopric of that ward. He was called as a regional representative for the church in 1968.
He was also chairman of the Jordan Valley Bishops Council and a second counselor in the Cottonwood Stake Presidency, 1955-56.
President Faust served a mission to Brazil from 1939-42, where he was a district president. In 1998, he received a Brazilian national citizenship award — an honor given to only a few world leaders — and was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Sao Paulo.
A 1937 graduate of Granite High School, he lettered in football and track. He was also a 1948 graduate of the University of Utah School of Law, where he received a bachelor of arts and a juris doctorate degree. He ran the quarter-mile and was a member of the mile relay team for the U. in 1938.
His college education was interrupted by service during World War II in the U.S. Air Force, from which he was discharged as a first lieutenant.
He practiced law in Salt Lake City from 1948 until his call to be a general authority in 1972.
As a business leader, President Faust served on the board of the Deseret News Publishing Co. from 1970 to 1996. He also had been a trustee of Ballet West and a board member for Commercial Security Bank.
In 1997, he was given an honorary degree of Christian service by Brigham Young University. The U. awarded him an honorary degree in 2002.
He was characterized as a high school football letterman, a husband, father, church leader and the "family Google" by the BYU Management Society when he was honored with its Distinguished Utahn award in 2006.
His daughter, Janna R. Coombs, called him "a great family patriarch," who taught his children and grandchildren from the experiences of his "rich and righteous life" after he received that award.
President Faust's own humility and humor also were evident when he received the award.
"I'm sure that I don't deserve this honor," he said in accepting the award. "But as Jack Benny once said, 'I don't deserve this honor. But then I have arthritis, and I don't deserve that, either."'
In 2003, President Faust became the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.
President Faust was born July 31, 1920, in Delta, one of five sons to George A. Faust and Amy Finlinson Faust.
He met his wife, Ruth Wright, while attending Granite High. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on April 21, 1943.
They are parents of five children: James H. Faust, Janna R. Coombs, Marcus G. Faust, Lisa A. Smith and Robert P. Faust. They have 25 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
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