Nelson died in his home “peacefully,” according to a news release from the LDS Church, also known as the Mormon church. Funeral details have yet to be released.
The LDS Church is a week away from its General Conference, a worldwide event where leaders of the Church offer speeches to its 17 million members. Nelson offered his own address during the April General Conference earlier this year. At the time, Nelson’s message was pre-recorded and he offered it sitting down due to an injury. These speeches are traditionally delivered live while standing at a podium.
At the age of 59 years old, Nelson was called by then President Spencer W. Kimball as one of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church, patterned after the twelve apostles from the New Testament. Prior to his calling in 1984, Nelson had a career as a heart surgeon and made history when he performed the first open-heart surgery in Utah.
Nelson served as an apostle for 34 years before he, as the most senior apostle, became president, otherwise referred to as prophet, in 2018. During his seven years at the helm of the LDS Church, Nelson announced the worldwide sites of 200 temples, which are colloquially called “houses of the Lord” in the Church.
There were many policy changes made under Nelson’s term, as he loosened previous restrictions against homosexual members and their children. While Nelson stood firm in his stance that marriage in the Church is between a man and a woman, he allowed children of gay couples to be baptized, which was prohibited before. Gay marriage was no longer considered an act of “apostasy” according to Nelson, but was codified as a “serious transgression.” Married gay members were still subject to excommunication from the Church.
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Nelson is survived by his second wife Wendy, eight of his 10 children, 57 grandchildren, and over 167 great-grandchildren.
While the LDS Church made no formal announcement for his successor, traditionally, the next most senior apostle becomes the president. As of Sunday morning, the likely successor is Elder Dallin H. Oaks, 93. Oaks resigned as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court to become an apostle in 1980.
