Hunter Dies: Shortest-Serving LDS President

Howard W. Hunter served as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nine months and twelve days, the shortest tenure of any church president in the twentieth century. He died on March 3, 1995, at age 87, having led the church through a brief but consequential period marked by his emphasis on temple worship and his gentle appeal for members to treat those of other faiths with kindness. Hunter was born on November 14, 1907, in Boise, Idaho. Unlike many LDS leaders who came from deeply religious families in Utah, Hunter's parents were not active in the church during his childhood. He joined the church as a young adult and put himself through law school at Southwestern University in Los Angeles during the 1930s. He practiced corporate law in California for two decades before being called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1959, beginning a 36-year career in church leadership. His path to the presidency was marked by physical suffering. Hunter endured chronic back pain for decades, used a wheelchair in his later years, and survived a frightening incident in February 1993 when a man wielding a briefcase he claimed contained a bomb rushed the stage during a church fireside in Provo, Utah. Hunter calmly refused to read a statement the man demanded, and the audience began singing hymns until security intervened. When he became president on June 5, 1994, following the death of Ezra Taft Benson, Hunter was already frail. His central message was an invitation for all members to obtain temple recommends and make temple worship a regular practice. He dedicated the Orlando Florida Temple in October 1994, the last temple dedication of his presidency. Hunter also emphasized interfaith dialogue and compassion toward non-members at a time when the church was expanding rapidly internationally. His nine-month presidency saw church membership surpass nine million worldwide. Though his tenure was the shortest since Joseph Fielding Smith's 2.5 years, Hunter's quiet emphasis on temple-centered faith left a lasting mark on LDS practice.