President Russell M. Nelson, church president and medical pioneer, dies at age 101

SALT LAKE CITY — A world-renowned heart surgeon who saved countless lives throughout his remarkable career, Russell M. Nelson knew “the real power to heal is a gift from God.”

 

The medical pioneer and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died Saturday shortly after 10 p.m. at his home in Salt Lake City at age 101, church officials confirmed. He was the oldest president in the history of the church.

He is survived by his wife, Wendy L. Nelson, eight children, 57 grandchildren and more than 100 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife and two daughters.

Faithful Latter-day Saints have revered President Nelson as a prophet since he was named 17th president of the church in January 2018, and perhaps knew him best for his love and faith, boundless energy that took him on ministering trips around the world, and an unprecedented number of changes to church policy and programs during his tenure.

Among the prominent changes was a move to more “home-centered” and “church-supported” worship that included two-hour instead of three-hour Sunday services. The church retired home teaching and visiting teaching — systems in which church members cared for one another’s needs — in favor of a more flexible “ministering” program.

Over the years, President Nelson emphasized using the correct name of the church. New programs for children and youth were launched. And President Nelson’s “Hear Him” initiative encouraged people everywhere to learn how God communicates with them.

He had prepared Latter-day Saints for an exciting future in the church when in the fall of 2018 he said, “Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It’s going to be exciting.”

Earlier this month, President Nelson celebrated his 101st birthday, making him the oldest living president of the church.

Early life and career

President Nelson was born Sept. 9, 1924, to Marion C. and Edna Anderson Nelson of Salt Lake City. He adored his parents although they did not attend church regularly when he was young. “They meant the world to me, and taught me crucial lessons,” he said in his April 2018 general conference address.

At age 10, he frequently accompanied his father to work at the Gillham Advertising Agency, where President Nelson worked as an errand boy. He eventually decided to pursue a career in medicine.

Education was important to the Nelson family. President Nelson graduated from East High School at age 16, earned a Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Utah by age 22, then joined the U.S. Army to serve two years on medical duty in South Korea.

Afterward, he completed his surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D. President Nelson later received honorary degrees from Brigham Young University, Utah State University and Snow College, and served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and chairman of the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular Surgery.

He innovated in his field and, after his residency, helped develop the artificial heart-lung machine, which maintains blood circulation and oxygen, making open-heart surgery possible. A skilled surgeon, he performed Utah’s first open-heart surgery in 1955. Decades later, he performed similar surgery on Spencer W. Kimball, who would go on to become the president of the church.

President Nelson lectured and made professional visits nationally and internationally prior to his full-time church service. Among other places, he grew fond of China and its people after hearing then-church President Kimball invite those at a meeting to increase their missionary efforts, including in China.

President Nelson learned the Mandarin language, then was invited to travel to China as a visiting professor of surgery. Over the years, he performed heart surgery there several times, including on one of China’s most famous opera singers, Fang Rongxiang. In 2015, China honored President Nelson with a declaration pronouncing him an “old friend of China.”

Even with his extensive medical background, President Nelson acknowledged that the ultimate power to heal people came from God.

“Men can do very little of themselves to heal sick or broken bodies,” President Nelson said in an article published in the Ensign, a magazine geared toward adult church members. “With an education, they can do a little more; with advanced medical degrees and training, a little more yet can be done. The real power to heal, however, is a gift from God. He has deigned that some of that power may be harnessed via the authority of his priesthood to benefit and bless mankind when all man can do for himself may not be sufficient.”

Family life

President Nelson met “the most beautiful girl” he’d ever seen — Dantzel White — while the two were practicing for a musical production at the University of Utah in 1942. The first time he walked into the theater, he “was instantly fixated on a beautiful brunette onstage who had the most hypnotic soprano voice he’d ever heard,” author Sheri Dew wrote in her book “Insights From a Prophet’s Life: Russell M. Nelson.” Three years later, the two married in the Salt Lake Temple. Together, they had 10 children — nine daughters and a son.

Family was obviously President Nelson’s priority, his son Russell M. Nelson, Jr. told KSL-TV in 2018. “And we’ve always felt that,” he said.

He called his parents college sweethearts who were truly a team. He attributed much of what his father was able to do, to his mother.

Sister Dantzel Nelson died unexpectedly in February 2005 at age 78.

In April 2006, President Nelson married Wendy L. Watson, a marriage and family therapy professor at Brigham Young University. She retired shortly after their marriage and then was frequently seen accompanying President Nelson on his church assignments, arm-in-arm.

Russell Nelson, Jr. called Sister Wendy Nelson a “wonderful companion” and a “tremendous support” to his father.

President Nelson enjoyed a strong relationship with all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, granddaughter Katie Irion Owens said in an article on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, the church’s website.

He spoke several languages, had perfect pitch, played the piano and organ, enjoyed skiing and gardening, and had “unbelievable” stamina even in his 90s, family members said.

Kind and compassionate

Above all, President Nelson was “very, very kind,” according to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “He is the consummate gentleman. He may be the man for whom the word ‘gentleman’ was created.”

The late President M. Russell Ballard described him as “a physician filled with love” in caring about the health of his fellow apostles and those he served.

When President Nelson was a surgeon in his 30s, a family whose son had died from a heart condition brought two daughters with congenital heart disease to President Nelson for surgery at different times. Despite his best efforts, both children died.

“This third heartbreaking loss in one family literally undid me,” he recalled. He went home “grief stricken,” and cried all night long, he said.

“Dantzel stayed by my side, listening as I repeatedly declared that I would never perform another heart operation. Then, around five o’clock in the morning, Dantzel looked at me and lovingly asked, ‘Are you finished crying? Then get dressed. Go back to the lab. Go to work! You need to learn more. If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know.'”

During the coronavirus pandemic, President Nelson twice invited people around the world to fast and pray for relief from the virus and its effects.

Earlier church service

Life changed for President Nelson when he was called to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1984. He served there for 34 years, including over two years as president of the quorum.

“In one short moment, the focus of the last 40 years in medicine and surgery was changed to devote the rest of my life in full-time service to my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ,” he was quoted as saying in the 2003 biography “Russell M. Nelson: Father, Surgeon, Apostle,” by Spencer J. Condie.

Prior to joining the Quorum of the Twelve, President Nelson served at different times as a regional representative over members of the faith living in the Kearns Utah area, and at BYU. His earlier church service also included that of a stake president, someone who oversees multiple church congregations for an area, and then as general president over the church’s Sunday School.

As a general authority, he served on the Temple and Family History Executive Council, the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, Missionary Executive Council, Church Educational System Board of Education as the chairman, and advised the Church History Department.

Under church President Ezra Taft Benson, he also worked to open doors to missionaries in the Eastern European nations.

President Nelson is listed in “Who’s Who in the World,” “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in Religion.” The reference books include individuals who have made noteworthy achievements that influence society.

World travel

“Whenever I’m comfortably situated in my home, I’m in the wrong place. I need to be where the people are,” President Nelson said, and his world travels reflected that.

As a general authority, he visited 133 countries. Then during his first two years as church president, he launched five worldwide ministry tours to places including England, Israel, Kenya, India, and Thailand, followed by trips to South America and the Pacific, meeting with not only church members, but often government and religious leaders as well.

Messages of faith

In general conference and other addresses, he often spoke of self mastery and the importance of following Jesus Christ.

In April 2017 general conference, President Nelson encouraged people to draw the power of Christ into their lives through learning of and developing a relationship with him, exercising faith, and keeping covenants.

Throughout his years of church service, President Nelson also encouraged church members to read the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of church scripture, and to find joy despite life’s challenges.

“The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and his gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening — or not happening — in our lives,” he stated in 2016.

He often urged members to attend temples — sacred places of worship. During general conference in April 2025, President Nelson announced another 15 new temples, bringing the number up to 200 new temples since the start of his tenure as church president — more than half of the 382 temples worldwide.

“We are grateful to the Lord for the acceleration of temple-building in recent years,” President Nelson said in closing the conference. “I testify that Jesus Christ, the redeemer of Israel, leads this, his church. He is preparing to come again. May we likewise prepare to receive him.”

Details about his funeral have not yet been announced.

General material from ChurchofJesusChrist.org and Church News. All other sources directly named.