President James E. Faust dies at age 87

During his years as a general authority, he was president of the church's international mission, general authority adviser for South America, executive director of the Church Curriculum Department, director of Welfare Services and editor of the church's three monthly magazines — Friend, Ensign and New Era. He had also served as managing director for the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA.

President Faust was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve on Oct. 6, 1972. He was called to the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976. He had also served as stake president of the Cottonwood Stake (1956-68), on the high council in the Big Cottonwood Stake (1947-48) and as bishop in the Big Cottonwood Ward (1949-55) and as counselor in the bishopric of that ward. He was called as a regional representative for the church in 1968.

He was also chairman of the Jordan Valley Bishops Council and a second counselor in the Cottonwood Stake Presidency, 1955-56.

President Faust served a mission to Brazil from 1939-42, where he was a district president. In 1998, he received a Brazilian national citizenship award — an honor given to only a few world leaders — and was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Sao Paulo.

A 1937 graduate of Granite High School, he lettered in football and track and was also a prosecuting attorney in student court. He was later inducted into the Granite High Hall of Fame.

He was also a 1948 graduate of the University of Utah School of Law, where he received a bachelor of arts and a juris doctorate degree. He ran the quarter-mile and was a member for the mile relay team for the U. in 1938.

His college education was interrupted by service during World War II in the U.S. Air Force, from which he was discharged as a first lieutenant.

He practiced law in Salt Lake City from 1948 until his call to be a general authority in 1972. He had served as president of the Utah Bar Association from 1962-63 and as a member of the Utah Legislature on the Democratic ticket from 1949-51. While a legislator, he also served as chairman of the House liquor investigation committee.

President John F. Kennedy also appointed him to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Racial Unrest. He had also been a member of the Constitutional Revision Committee for the State of Utah. and had been an adviser to the American Bar Journal. Former Utah Gov. Scott Matheson had appointed him state director of the Friendshipping Force.

President Faust also served on the board of the Deseret News Publishing Co. from 1970 to 1996. That service included being vice president and chairman of the executive committee. He had also been a trustee of Ballet West and had been in the board of directors for Commercial Security Bank.

In 1997, he was given an honorary degree of Christian service by Brigham Young University. The University of Utah awarded him an honorary degree in 2002.