Ahmad S. Corbitt

First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency

Ahmad S. Corbitt, 57, was born in August 1962 to James Earl Corbitt and Amelia Corbitt. The family was poor and lived in the housing projects of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, surrounded by crime and gang violence. It was not safe to travel from neighborhood to neighborhood.

But his mother’s spiritual impressions guided her 10 children and kept them safe. She knew intuitively when her children should play outside and when they should stay inside.

It was that spiritual sensitivity that later led her to invite missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into her home. During much of his boyhood and youth, Ahmad and his family had worshipped with the Nation of Islam, and he was later baptized Protestant. But now he felt loved by the local Latter-day Saint congregation.

His mother and some siblings were baptized the following month. On August 16, 1980, on his 18th birthday, Ahmad also entered the waters of baptism. His stepfather, Henry Brandford Campbell, joined the Church the next year.

“It wasn’t really about us,” he said. “It was about God and what He wanted us to do. We were willing to be humble and open. He led us along.”

After attending Ricks College and serving in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission from 1982 to 1984, he met Jayne Joslin during a young single adult temple trip. The couple married on August 24, 1985, in the Washington D.C. Temple and are the parents of six children.

For the next nine years, he worked by day and attended school at night, earning degrees from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and Rutgers University Law School.

He has served as counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, high councilor, and president of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission.

Brother Corbitt worked as a trial lawyer, in public relations and as director of the Church’s New York Office of Public and International Affairs. He is currently employed by the Church’s Missionary Department.