President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away

[Monty]

From the church’s newsroom:

With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully shortly after 10 p.m. MDT today at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 101 — the oldest president in the history of the Church.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Losing someone is never easy but at 101 I’d say he had a very good run.

I am not sure what a president of LDS does but it seems amazing he was doing it at 101.

I am not a member of the LDS so I have no idea. Just curious.

[Monty]

Wikipedia has a good page on the establishment of the First Presidency in the Latter Day Saint movement.

Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Community of Christ, Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery led the church in their capacity as elders.[1] Smith established the inaugural First Presidency on March 8, 1832, with the ordinations of Jesse Gause and Sidney Rigdon as his counselors.[2] The term “first presidency,” though used at least as early as 1834, did not become standard until 1838.[3] The presidency was to exercise authority over the entire church, whereas the jurisdictions of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy were the outlying areas outside of the gathering places where the church had been organized on a more permanent basis.[4]

After the death of Smith in 1844, First Presidencies were reorganized by Brigham Young for the LDS Church, by Rigdon for the Rigdonites (now defunct), by Joseph Smith III for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ), by James J. Strang for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), and by William Bickerton for The Church of Jesus Christ, although the latter two organizations have not had a First Presidency for much of their history.

For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself, this Wikpedia page has the following:

The First Presidency , also called the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church [1] or simply the Presidency ,[2] is the presiding governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency most recently consisted of Russell M. Nelson and his two counselors: Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring but was dissolved upon Nelson’s death.[3]

That page has this to say about the duties:

The First Presidency is the highest ranking priesthood quorum of the church. The counselors assist the church president and work closely with him in guiding the entire church and carrying out the duties of the president of the church. The First Presidency has the theoretical authority to make the final decision on nearly all issues that might affect the church or its operations, but in practice, the First Presidency has delegated much of its decision-making power to members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and local leaders of the church. Nevertheless, the First Presidency has retained its overarching decision-making power in a number of significant areas and may, at any time, choose to overrule the decisions of a lesser church quorum or authority.

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All members of the First Presidency are also members of the church’s Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, which determines how the tithing funds of the church are spent.

As mentioned above, with President Nelson’s passing, the First Presidency was dissolved. You can’t fault his timing for this. General Conference is the first weekend of October and this will thus be a Solemn Assembly.

A solemn assembly is a formal and sacred procedure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) conducted to give added emphasis to the purpose of the occasion. Solemn assemblies are held at the dedications of temples and for specially-called meetings to provide instruction to church leaders.[1] Solemn assemblies are also held for the purpose of sustaining a new church president, who church members consider to be a prophet, seer, and revelator.[2] Such assemblies are held, in particular, to follow the law of common consent.

[DWMarch]

In further tragic news for the LDS community, there was a shooting today at a church in Michigan:

1 person dead and 9 injured in shooting at Michigan church, police say

[TokyoBayer]

The president and all of the other apostles serve until they die, and there have been a number of cases of presidents who became imcompassited continuing to serve with someone else doing the actual running of the organization.

[CalMeacham]

When a friend visited me in Salt Lake City many years ago we toured the Visitor’s centers at Temple Square. After viewing the plaques with the brief bios of previous preidents of the LDS Church he turned to me and said

“All of them were born in the 19th century”.

It was true, at the time. I hadn’t noticed it before. This mean that the first couple of Presidents – Joseph Smith and Brigham Young – were pretty young when they started. But Young had a long tenure, and the ones after him were older men when they assumed the office.

It’s not that unusual, I suppose – the Catholic Church has a similar history, with Peter being relatively young, but most popes being pretty aged. But Nelson followed the tradition of older Church Presidents – he was born less than a quarter of a century away from the 19th.

[TokyoBayer]

@CalMeacham

But Nelson followed the tradition of older Church Presidents – he was born less than a quarter of a century away from the 19th.

Unlike popes, presidents of the Mormon church are based on seniority among the apostle, so it’s impossible to get young presidents anymore.

The person slated to be the next president is already 93.

[raspberry_hunter]

It’s true that many of the Presidents of the Church have been pretty incapacitated near the end, but President Nelson was an exception. That guy had more energy at age 100 than I do in my late 40’s.

He became President of the Church in 2018 so served for only 7 years in that capacity, but it sure feels like a lot more, as he instituted a lot of changes. Some of them I liked, some of them I was suspicious of but grew to like, and some of them I didn’t like, but I gotta say he definitely brought a lot of energy to it.

[Monty]

Community of Christ, the next largest outfit in the Restoration, has had a woman, Stassi D. Cramm, as their Prophet-President since June this year. She was sustained on June 1, 2025 and ordained to her current office on June 2, 2025. She’s 63 years old. Honestly, I think she’s a great choice for the role.

[Author_Balk]

I grew up Mormon and know about the seniority thing. But, have there ever been exceptions? What if the 93 year old had severe dementia or something that would make him not able to perform his duties? I seem to remember something along these lines and the answer was that God would take him before it’s his time and this wouldn’t happen. But, has it?

[TokyoBayer]

@Author_Balk

I seem to remember something along these lines and the answer was that God would take him before it’s his time and this wouldn’t happen. But, has it?

There have been a number of claims about several presidents that they suffered dementia or were otherwise completely unable to perform their duties. Among them are Spensor Kimball and Ezra Talf Benson.

Howard Hunter had significent health issues and only served nine months.

@raspberry_hunter

He became President of the Church in 2018 so served for only 7 years in that capacity, but it sure feels like a lot more, as he instituted a lot of changes. Some of them I liked, some of them I was suspicious of but grew to like, and some of them I didn’t like, but I gotta say he definitely brought a lot of energy to it.

So do you think you’ll go back to the three hours of meetings on Sundays now?