Here is a look at the significant moments in the life of Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

• Born on Sept. 9, 1924 the son of Marion C. and Edna Anderson Nelson in Salt Lake City.
• Graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City as the valedictorian at the age of 16.
• Received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 1945.
• Married his first wife, Dantzel White, on Aug. 31, 1945.
• Served in the United States Navy Reserve 1945-1947.
• Received his M.D. degree from the University of Utah in 1947, graduating first in his class.
• Served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War from 1951-1953.
• Awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1954
• Performed the first open-heart surgery in the state of Utah on Nov. 9, 1955.
• Became an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Utah’s medical school in 1955.
• Served as a Temple Square missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1955-1965.
• Served as president of the Salt Lake Bonneville Stake for the Church of Jesus Christ from 1964-1967.
• Served as director of the thoracic surgical residency program at the University of Utah from 1968-1984.
• Received a an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in 1970
• Served as regional representative for the Church of Jesus Christ from 1979-1984.
• Ordained an Apostle and set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ on April 7, 1984.
• Assigned to oversee the for the Church of Jesus Christ’s affairs in Europe and Africa from 1985-1990, with special assignment to open nations in Eastern Europe under communist rule for the preaching of the gospel.
• Nelson’s first wife, Dantzel Nelson, passed away on Feb. 12, 2005.
• Married his second wife, Wendy Watson, on April 6, 2006.
• Served as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ from 2015-2018.
• Ordained and set apart as the 17th President of the Church of Jesus Christ on Jan. 14, 2018, after the death of President Thomas S. Monson.
• Became the oldest President of the Church of Jesus Christ o n April 14, 2022, and would become the church’s longest-living Apostle in this latter-day dispensation in August of the same year.
• Passed away at the age of 101 on Sept. 27, 2025.