Bishop Dean M. Davies

Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric

When the President of the Church asks Bishop Dean Davies details about a prospective temple site, such as how long will it take to walk from the nearest bus stop, Brother Davies doesn’t rehearse mere facts. He knows firsthand the experience of the patron by having walked the route.

“How do you do that?” President Gordon B. Hinckley once asked him.

Focused devotion and attention to details are how Bishop Dean Myron Davies—newly called as the Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric—has lived his life.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in September 1951 to Oliver T. and Myra Davies, Bishop Davies was raised in a family where love and work were guiding principles. If he wanted something, he was to earn it. When persistent pleas to his mother failed to get him a longed-for toy, he considered his options. He still remembers the physical strain and resulting satisfaction from pushing an old-fashioned lawn mower through a neighbor’s tall grass.

After serving in the Uruguay/Paraguay Mission from 1970 to 1972, he returned home to marry Darla James, a friend from his early youth, in June 1973 in the Salt Lake Temple. Bishop Davies earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Brigham Young University in 1976 and later received advanced executive training at Stanford and Northwestern Universities.

Over the years, he and his wife and their five children lived in six states as his career evolved in the real estate industry. He served as stake president, as a counselor in stake presidencies, on five high councils, in bishoprics, and in various ward assignments. He also served as president of the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission from 1998 to 2001. At the time of his most recent call, he worked as managing director of the Church’s Special Projects Department.

Among the lessons he has experienced is that “the Lord loves and guides His children.”