SALT LAKE CITY — Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles died shortly after the Sunday morning of General Conference, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said. He was 85.

Hales died at 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at a hospital, surrounded by his wife and family, church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement.

President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the church’s First Presidency, announced Hales’ passing at the start of the Sunday afternoon session of conference and said Russell M. Nelson, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was also at the hospital with Hales.

“We will miss him. His wisdom and goodness have blessed our lives for many years,” Eyring said.

Funeral arrangements are pending and it is not yet determined when the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be filled, the church said.

On Thursday, the church announced that Hales was admitted to an unspecified hospital to be treated for “pulmonary and other conditions” and his doctors advised him not to participate in the 187th Semiannual General Conference.

“He lived his testimony,” Eyring said in a statement from the church. “He knew God. He knew the Savior, and he loved the Savior. … And he behaved as if God was close, Heavenly Father was close.”

The LDS apostle was born Aug. 24, 1932, in New York City, the third and final child of John Rulon and Vera Marie Holbrook Hales.

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He and Mary Crandall were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on June 10, 1953. They later had two children: Stephen, born in 1955, and David, born in 1958.

Hales graduated from the University of Utah in 1954, served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force for three and a half years and then received a master’s of business administration in 1960 from Harvard University.

His business career included jobs in England, Germany, Spain and several parts of the United States.

During that time he served in the church as a branch president in Albany, Georgia, in Weston, Massachusetts, and in Frankfurt, Germany; in a branch presidency in Seville, Spain; and as bishop in Weston, Massachusetts, in Chicago, Illinois, and in Frankfurt, Germany, according to a biography published by the church after his call as an apostle.

He later served as a regional representative and then in 1975 was called as an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve and in 1976 as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

He was president of the England London Mission from 1978 to 1979 and in April 1985 was called as the presiding bishop of the church, where he served until being called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1994.

“There will be no disparity between the kindness we show our enemies and the kindness we bestow on our friends,” Hales said in his final General Conference appearance, an 11-minute talk in April titled “Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“I testify that everyone can be a disciple of the Savior. Discipleship is not constrained by age, gender, ethnic origin, or calling. Through our individual discipleship, we, as Latter-day Saints, build up a collective strength to bless our brothers and sisters throughout the world,” he said.

The church said condolences can be left on Hales’ Facebook page.

“Elder Hales provided a model of servant-leadership for all of us to follow,” Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said in a statement. “He was true discipline of Jesus Christ, putting the welfare of others before self and the Kingdom of God above all. He was gracious and loving, thoughtful and kind.” 

Reporter Kyle Hansen contributed to this report. Reach digital producer Jessica Kokesh at 801-625-4229 or jkokesh@standard.net. You can also follow her on Twitter at @JessicaKokesh or Facebook.com/ByJessKokesh.