Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to a statement from the organization. He was 90.
Monson served as president of the church since 2008. He “passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by family,” LDS posted on the church’s verified Facebook page.
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Born in Salt Lake City in 1927, he served in the US Navy near the close of World War II, according to his church biography. Then he graduated from the University of Utah and started a career in publishing.
He also spent his life serving the church, becoming a bishop at age 22 and presiding over the church’s Canadian mission by his early 30s. By 36, he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a high executive body in the church, CNN reports.
Monson was the 16th president of the Church of Latter-day Saints, a role that is served for life. The church has almost 15.9 million members worldwide.
The New York Times reports that although Monson increased the number of women missionaries in the church, he held strong on rebuffing demands to ordain women as priests and refused to alter church opposition to same-sex marriage.
Monson and his wife, Frances J. Monson, who died in 2013, had three children.
On his 81st birthday, Monson was asked what would be an ideal gift from church members. He replied: “Do something for someone else on that day to make his or her life better. Find someone who is having a hard time, or is ill, or lonely, and do something for them. That’s all I would ask.”
