Mormon apostle Richard G. Scott dies at 86

In light of the death of Mormon leader Richard G. Scott, the Mormon church is postponing an event planned for Tuesday night that would have offered a sneak peek of the renovated history museum. My desk drawer is full of copies of his talks. Elder Scott was a man of great faith and unbending principle, who-in his own quiet way-spent decades sharing the light of Christ with people throughout the world.

Elder Scott was sustained as an apostle on October 1, 1988. “We’ve lost an inspirational leader who will be deeply missed”. He served on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover, directing the development of nuclear fuel for a wide variety of naval and land-based power plants, from 1953 to 1965.

Though Elder Scott spent most of his formative years in Washington D.C. where his father Kenneth Leroy worked for the Department of Agriculture, he was born in Pocatello, Idaho on November . 7, 1928. My sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to the Scott Family at this hard time. He was chosen in 1988 as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a high-level governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1965 at age 37, Elder Scott left his position with Rickover to serve as the president of the Argentina North Mission in Cordoba, Argentina.

Upon his return to the USA , he began working as a consultant for nuclear power companies.

Elder Scott received an honorary doctor of Christian service degree from Brigham Young University in 2008.

Scott is the third LDS apostle to die this year.

Quorum president Boyd K. Packer died in July from natural causes, and quorum member L. Tom Perry died in May from cancer.

“Elder Richard G. Scott had the razor-sharp mind of an engineer fused with the tender softness of a disciple’s soul”. “His messages were filled with hope”. Ever in search of the one who was lost – Elder Scott’s words and witness of Jesus Christ served as the lower lights upon the shore to gently guide the wanderer home.

Scott kept a fairly low public profile, known mostly for his speeches at Mormon conferences where he managed a delicate balance of “preaching repentance without stridency”, said Matthew Bowman, an associate professor of history at Henderson State University.

The Church will announce details regarding funeral arrangements as they become available. In April 2015, he was hospitalized due to gastrointestinal bleeding and after his release the church said he had “experienced a fading memory incident due to age, and is not fully able to participate in meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve at this time”.