Elder Steven R. Bangerter

General Authority Seventy

During a childhood camping trip, Elder Steven R. Bangerter and his family rode dirt bikes to the top of a mountain. On the way down, he lost his way and became separated from the others.

As he knelt that afternoon and pleaded with his Father in Heaven for help, in his mind’s eye he saw the trail he had lost. Just as he started down it, “my brother reached the top of the trail on his motorcycle, embraced me, and guided me back through the dark to the camp, which was hours away.”

That incident is just one of many that made him feel loved during his childhood. “There was never a moment in my life that I wondered whether I was loved or cared for,” Elder Bangerter said.

Elder Bangerter was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, to Max E. and Thelma R. Bangerter on July 29, 1961. He grew up in Granger, Utah.

Within weeks of returning from serving in the Canada Vancouver Mission, Elder Bangerter met Susann Alexis Hughes. On their first date, he sensed in her a humble desire to serve that prompted him to propose to her on their second date. They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on March 17, 1983. They are the parents of six sons.

Elder Bangerter earned a bachelor of arts degree from Arizona State University in religious studies and a juris doctor degree from Western State University College of Law. For the past 25 years, Elder Bangerter has represented churches and faith-based organizations in law practices in Southern California and southern Utah. He was a partner at Cooksey, Toolen, Gage, Duffy, and Woog from 1993 to 2003 and became a managing partner of Bangerter, Frazier, and Graff in 2004.

Elder Bangerter has served as an Area Seventy, stake president, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, elders quorum president, and ward Young Men president.