Leader Biographies
President James E. Faust
James E. Faust was set apart as Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 12, 1995. He earlier had served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since September 1978. He had previously served four years as an Assistant to the Twelve and was sustained as a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy on October 1, 1976.
His present assignments include vice chairman of the Church Board of Education; the board of trustees of Brigham Young University; the Welfare Services Executive Committee; and Deseret Management Corporation.
Prior to becoming a General Authority, President Faust served the Church as a bishop, high councilor, stake president, and regional representative.
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Description
President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
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His General Authority assignments have included: managing director of the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA, zone adviser over South America, president of the International mission, executive director of the Church Curriculum Department, editor of the Church magazines, vice chairman of the Welfare Committee, and chairman of the Public Affairs Committee.
He was born July 31, 1920, in Delta, Utah. He attended school in the Granite District of Salt Lake City, Utah, and enrolled at the University of Utah in 1937. He participated as a member of the track team in 1938 and ran the quarter-mile and mile relay.
His college career was interrupted first to serve as a missionary for the Church in Brazil and later by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was discharged as a first lieutenant.
In 1945 he reentered the University of Utah by enrolling in the law school, from which he graduated in 1948 with a B.A. and Juris Doctor degree.
He began the practice of law in Salt Lake City and continued until his appointment as a General Authority in the Church in 1972.
He served as a member of the Utah Legislature from 1949 to 1951, as an advisor to the American Bar Journal, and was president of the Utah Bar Association in 1962–63. He received the Distinguished Lawyer Emeritus Award of the Utah Bar Association in 1995.
He was a member of the Utah State Constitutional Revision Commission. He is also a former vice president of the board of directors and chairman of the executive committee of the Deseret News Publishing Company.
In August of 1997 he received an honorary doctorate degree from Brigham Young University. He was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of São Paulo, Brazil in April of 1998.
He is married to the former Ruth Wright of Salt Lake City; they are the parents of two daughters and three sons.
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