From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howard W. Hunter
Full name	Howard William Hunter
Born	November 14, 1907
Place of birth	Boise, Idaho
Died	March 3, 1995
Place of death	Salt Lake City, Utah
LDS Church President
Ordained	1994
Predecessor	Ezra Taft Benson
Successor	Gordon B. Hinckley

Howard William Hunter (November 14, 1907 – March 3, 1995) was the fourteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1994-1995), and served the shortest amount of time of any Church president to date (nine months). He was the first president of the church born in the 20th Century.

Hunter was born in Boise, Idaho. He was sustained as an Apostle at the age of 51, and served a little over 35 years as a General Authority for the Church.

After Hunter's first wife Clara May Jeffs died, he remarried Inis Stanton while President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Hunter's father was not a Latter-day Saint (he joined the Church later in his life) and would not let him get baptized until he was twelve years old. He was the second person to become an Eagle Scout in the state of Idaho. Hunter had a love for music and played the piano, violin, drums, saxophone, clarinet and trumpet. He formed a band called Hunters Croonaders, which played on cruise ships.

Some of his major contributions include the creation of the Church's 2000th stake and his negotiations to acquire land in Jerusalem to build the BYU Jerusalem Center (which he later dedicated). Other significant activities he was allegedly involved with include the creation of the Proclamation on the Family. In 1985, Hunter was named Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, in recognition of the infirmity of Marion G. Romney, who had succeeded as President of the Twelve by seniority; Hunter became full President on Romney's death in 1988.

Hunter became sick while president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and had major health problems for the remainder of his life, including a heart attack, broken ribs (from a fall at General Conference), heart bypass surgery, bleeding ulcers and a kidney failure that revived.

He encouraged and emphasized temple attendance, and dedicated two temples during his administration, the Orlando Florida Temple and later the Bountiful Utah Temple shortly before he died.[1]

On February 7, 1993, while speaking at Brigham Young University, Hunter was confronted by Cody Judy. Judy threatened Hunter and the 15,000-17,000 onlookers with a briefcase that he claimed contained a bomb. He appeared to be holding a detonator-like device in one hand (this was later revealed to be a telephone wrapped in electrical tape). Judy demanded that Hunter read a three-page document that supposedly detailed God's plan for Judy to lead the church, which Hunter refused to do. The audience sang the hymn, "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet", which purportedly distracted Judy long enough for students from the audience and then security personnel to overtake the assailant. After Judy was taken away Hunter delivered his prepared remarks, a talk entitled, "Facing Adversity in Our Lives".

Grave marker of Howard W. Hunter.

• Hunter, Howard W. (1997). in Clyde J. Williams: The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, Fourteenth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bookcraft. 
• Hunter, Howard W. (1994). That We Might Have Joy. Deseret Book Company. 

Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles

• A biography of three recent LDS church presidents: Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter and Gordon B. Hinkley

Listen to this article · (info)

This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2007-01-17, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles