Elder Uchtdorf, former pilot, named new counselor in First Presidency

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 67, who was sustained to the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve on Oct. 2, 2004, was introduced Monday as the new second counselor in the church's First Presidency.

He was ordained an apostle on Oct. 7, 2004, at the age of 63.

President Uchtdorf, a native German and former senior vice president for flight operations and chief pilot for Lufthansa German Airlines, was sustained to the Second Quorum of the Seventy on April 2, 1994.

He was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, 1996, and called to the Presidency of the Seventy on Aug. 15, 2002, and sustained on Oct. 5, 2002.

A former stake president and stake mission president, President Uchtdorf received education in engineering and later studied business administration and international management.

He was born Nov. 6, 1940, in Ostrava, Morava, Czechoslovakia, to Karl Albert and Hilde Else Opelt Uchtdorf. He and his wife, Harriet Reich Uchtdorf, are the parents of two children.