Elder Horacio A. Tenorio, the first general authority of Mexican ancestry, died Oct. 20, 2021, in Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico. He was 86 years old.
Since his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1969, Elder Tenorio immersed himself in service to the Church. Within a year of his and his wife’s decision to be baptized, he was called to serve as a branch president. The next few decades also brought calls as a bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, regional representative and president of the Mexico Torreón Mission from 1982 to 1985. During those years he was an eyewitness and participant to the Church’s rapid growth, where the number of stakes in his native country jumped from five to 55.
He served as a General Authority Seventy from 1989 to 1994. He and his wife, Sister Maria Teresa Tenorio, also served as president and matron of the Monterrey Mexico Temple from 2007 to 2010.
He was born March 6, 1936, in Mexico City to Leopoldo Horacio Tenorio, a chemist, and Blanca Otilia Tenorio, a journalist.
When he was 10, his family moved to Ciudad Obregon, in the state of Sonora, where he met Maria Teresa. They were married on July 25, 1957, and have three daughters, Maria Teresa, Monica and Maria del Rocio.
Soon after he joined the Church, he decided to renounce his work as a purchasing agent of electronic supplies, where he was continually negotiating with other agents, some of whom required unethical gifts or payments.
He was hired by the Church as a purchasing agent to serve in Mexico, then as director of materials management. After serving as mission president, he started a business distributing ice cream flavorings, then another distributing irrigation systems.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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