President Jeffrey R. Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Saturday, Dec. 27, at 3:15 a.m. MST, at age 85, from complications associated with kidney disease.
Known for his words and the way he expressed them, President Holland will be remembered for the love he shared in nations around the world, where he taught and testified of the reality of Jesus Christ. An educator by profession, he inspired generations with his general conference talks, devotional addresses, missionary messages and social media posts. In almost every corner of the globe, he declared that the “gospel of Jesus Christ is personally precious, everlastingly hopeful and eternally true.”
Along the way, he made friends — best friends — everywhere he went, sharing unmatched empathy and offering hope and encouragement.
In addition to more than three decades of service as an Apostle, President Holland served as a General Authority Seventy, the ninth president of Brigham Young University, commissioner of the Church Educational System and dean of the BYU College of Religious Education.
He and his late wife, Sister Patricia Terry Holland, who died July, 20, 2023, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June 2023 and have three children, 13 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.
After taking time away from Church assignments to focus on recovering his health, President Holland sat for a media interview on June 24, 2023. He spoke of his medical challenges — neuropathy that limited his mobility, a kidney condition that required routine dialysis to sustain his life, and a recent bout with COVID-19 that he should not have survived but did.
It happened because of prayer, he said.
On his behalf, the Lord heard and answered the prayer of a child in Kansas and the petition of Latter-day Saints in Zimbabwe and “someone praying in the Japanese language that I do not even understand, but that they do, and God does,” President Holland said. “Those prayers are a reminder of the grace of a worldwide Church membership and proof that God often answers prayers through other people.”
With a determination that epitomized his resolve to teach and testify, President Holland added: “I’m staggering toward the finish line. I refuse to get off the track. I’m still in the race. And I’m grateful to the Saints for those prayers.”
Months later, after burying his beloved wife, President Holland endured another extended and serious illness that took him to the “edge of eternity.” His recovery, Elder Dale G. Renlund later wrote on social media, “was a miracle. It was divine intervention.”
During April 2024 general conference, President Holland recalled the illness. “I cannot speak fully of that experience here, but I can say that part of what I received was an admonition to return to my ministry with more urgency, more consecration, more focus on the Savior [and] more faith in His word.”
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