Elder Howard W. Hunter—Now President of the Quorum of the Twelve

Elder Howard W. Hunter was set apart on June 2 as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Church President Ezra Taft Benson set President Hunter apart during a meeting of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve in the Salt Lake Temple.

President Hunter succeeds President Marion G. Romney, who succumbed on May 20 after a lengthy illness. President Hunter had been the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve since November 1985.

The new president was sustained as an Apostle on 10 October 1959. He was born on 14 November 1907 in Boise, Idaho. After graduation with high honors from Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles, he practiced law in southern California until his call to full-time Church service.

He has been president of the Genealogical Society and of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, and has served as chairman of both the Southern California and Los Angeles welfare regions.

President Hunter’s wife, the former Clara May Jeffs, died on 9 October 1983.