Though well-known to many Latter-day Saints, most of Nibley's work "was not known to outside scholars," Reynolds said. Yet when visiting academics would talk with him, most were "simply astounded at his control of ancient languages and ancient sources." Fellow BYU professor Truman Madsen liked to tell about one scholar's encounter with Nibley, quipping, "It's obscene that one man should know so much." He was born March 27, 1910, in Portland, Ore., to Alexander and Agnes Sloan Nibley, and attended public schools in Portland, Medford and Los Angeles. He graduated from high school at 17 and served a three-year LDS mission in Germany, with another short-term stint in the Northern States.

He earned a bachelor's degree in history at UCLA in 1934 and a doctorate in classics at Berkeley in 1938, after which he taught college at Claremont, Calif. He joined the Army in 1942, serving as a military intelligence officer with the 101st Airborne Division, landing at Utah Beach on D-Day. He married Phyllis Anne Hawkes Draper on Sept. 18, 1946, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple and began his career that year at BYU, teaching history, religion and languages.

Reynolds said Nibley came of age during a unique time in the history of higher education, when academics worldwide were extremely liberal, Communism saw its greatest success and "the exclusion of any kind of spiritual belief or thought reigned supreme. He was influenced negatively and positively by those and other influences of the times," and spent the bulk of his scholarly life using the tools of scientific research to explain the intricacies of LDS canon.

Over the years he became widely known for his writings on LDS scripture, many of which were regularly published in church magazines. He also lectured widely and wrote a number of books, one of which, "An Approach to the Book of Mormon," was used as a lesson manual for LDS men in the 1950s.

In 1973, he became the first director of the newly formed Institute for Ancient Studies at BYU and helped the library acquire an extensive religious studies collection. He received numerous awards from his colleagues, including Professor of the Year in 1973, Distinguished Service Award in 1979, an honorary doctorate in 1983 and the Exemplary Manhood Award in 1991.

Nibley officially retired from BYU in 1975 but continued to teach until 1994. While his students saw a scholar so immersed in his thoughts that at times some wondered whether he ever worried about his appearance, those closest to him saw more than a love for classical phrases or ancient mysteries.

"He was always so excited about any new idea—he welcomed insights that might come from children or freshmen in college as well as from the most erudite of scholars," Welch said. "He was truly no respecter of persons in that regard."