Jeffrey R. Holland, a high-ranking official within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was subsequent in line to change into the religion’s president, has died. He was 85.
Holland died early Saturday morning from problems related to kidney illness, the church introduced on its web site.
Holland, who died in Salt Lake Metropolis, led a governing physique referred to as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set church coverage whereas overseeing the numerous enterprise pursuits of what’s identified extensively because the Mormon church.
He was the longest-tenured member of the Quorum of the Twelve after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him subsequent in line to steer the church underneath a long-established succession plan. Oaks, 93, grew to become president of the church and its greater than 17 million-strong international membership in October.
Henry B. Eyring, who’s 92 and one among Oaks’ two high counselors, is now subsequent in line for the presidency.
Holland had been hospitalized in the course of the Christmas vacation for ongoing well being problems, the church mentioned. Specialists on the religion pointed to his declining well being in October when Oaks didn’t choose Holland as a counselor.
His loss of life leaves a emptiness within the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in coming months, doubtless by calling a brand new apostle from a lower-tier management council. Apostles are all males in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.
Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and labored for a few years in training administration earlier than his name to hitch the ranks of church management. He served because the ninth president of Brigham Younger College, the Utah-based religion’s flagship college, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s international training system.
Beneath his management, the Provo college labored to enhance interfaith relations and established a satellite tv for pc campus in Jerusalem. The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its “Torch of Liberty” award for serving to foster better understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.
Oaks, additionally a former BYU president, mirrored Saturday on his greater than 50 years of friendship and repair with Holland, calling their relationship “long and loving.”
“Over the last three decades as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he lifted the weary, encouraged the faithful and bore a powerful witness of the Savior — even through seasons of significant personal trials,” Oaks mentioned.
Holland was generally known as a dynamic orator whose sermons mixed scholarship with tenderness. In 2013 he spoke to church members about supporting family members with despair and different psychological sicknesses, sharing brazenly about instances when he felt “like a broken vessel.”
Holland is extensively remembered for a 2021 speech wherein he referred to as on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in protection of the religion’s teachings towards same-sex marriage. The speak, identified colloquially as “the musket fire speech,” grew to become required studying for BYU freshmen in 2024, elevating concern amongst LGBTQ+ college students and advocates.
Holland was preceded in loss of life by his spouse, Patricia Terry Holland. He’s survived by their three kids, 13 grandchildren and a number of other great-grandchildren.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
