User:Rollidan/sandbox/Nelson
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Russell Marion Nelson Sr. (born September 9, 1924) is an American religious leader and former surgeon who is the 17th and current president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[4] Nelson was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly 34 years, and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.[5]
Russell M. Nelson | |
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17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | |
January 14, 2018 (2018-01-14) – present | |
Predecessor | Thomas S. Monson |
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
July 3, 2015 (2015-07-03)[1][2] – January 14, 2018 (2018-01-14) | |
Predecessor | Boyd K. Packer |
Successor | Dallin H. Oaks |
End reason | Became President of the Church |
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
April 7, 1984 (1984-04-07) – January 14, 2018 (2018-01-14) | |
Called by | Spencer W. Kimball |
End reason | Became President of the Church |
LDS Church Apostle | |
April 12, 1984 (1984-04-12) | |
Called by | Spencer W. Kimball |
Reason | Deaths of LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen[3] |
Military career | |
1951–1953 | |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | Army Medical Corps |
Battles/wars | Korean War |
Personal details | |
Born | Russell Marion Nelson (1924-09-09) September 9, 1924 (age 99) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
Alma mater | University of Utah (B.A., M.D.) University of Minnesota (Ph.D.) |
Occupation | Surgeon |
Spouse(s) | Dantzel White (1945–2005; deceased) Wendy L. Watson (2006–present) |
Children | 10 (with Dantzel) |
Signature | |
A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Nelson attended the University of Utah for his undergraduate and medical school education. He then did further surgical training and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, where he worked on the research team developing the heart-lung machine that in 1951 supported the first ever human open-heart surgery using mechanical takeover of heart and lungs (cardiopulmonary bypass). He served for two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War, then did a year of surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1955, Nelson returned to Salt Lake City and accepted a professorship at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He spent the next 29 years working in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Nelson became a noted heart surgeon, and served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the Utah Medical Association.[6]
Nelson also served in a variety of lay LDS leadership positions during his surgical career, beginning locally in Salt Lake City and then as the LDS Church's Sunday School General President from 1971 to 1979.[7] In 1984, Nelson and the American jurist Dallin H. Oaks were selected to fill the two vacancies in the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles created by the deaths of LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen. LDS apostles serve for life, and so Nelson retired from all of his prior professional positions.