George F. Richards

George Franklin Richards (February 23, 1861 – August 8, 1950) was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from April 9, 1906, until his death. He also served as Acting Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church from 1937 to 1942 and President of the Quorum of the Twelve from May 25, 1945, until his death.

Family

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Richards was born in Farmington, Utah Territory, the son of Franklin D. Richards and Nanny Longstroth. Richards' father was an apostle of the LDS Church and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Franklin D. Richards also served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1898 to 1899.

After George Richards's death, one of his sons, LeGrand, became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church, thus making the Richards family only the third Latter-day Saint family in history with three consecutive generations with members in the Quorum (the others being the succession of George A. Smith, John Henry Smith, and George Albert Smith and of Amasa M. Lyman, Francis M. Lyman, and Richard R. Lyman).

Richards was baptized by Oliver L. Robinson, who would later become his father-in-law. In 1882, Richards married Alice A. Robinson. One of the halls in Heritage Halls at Brigham Young University is named for Alice.

Education

Richards received a degree in English from the University of Deseret, later the University of Utah. He also studied mathematics there.

Employment and politics

Richards worked for the Utah Central Railway as a clerk from 1881 to 1882. Initially in Tooele, Richards and his family lived and worked on the ranch of his uncle. In 1896, he bought his own house and farmland in Tooele. From 1899 to 1900, Richards served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives from Tooele County.

LDS Church service

Early church callings

Richards was ordained an elder in the LDS Church at age fifteen. He received the endowment shortly after this. Among various early callings he held were those of home missionary (similar to what would later be called a stake missionary, and eventually a ward missionary) and president of the ward Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA).

During his early days in the Twelve, Richards went on several tours of missions in the United States as well as visiting many stake conferences.

Acting Presiding Patriarch

In 1937, Richards was asked by church president Heber J. Grant to assume the duties that would normally be carried out by the church's Presiding Patriarch. Richards accepted, and served in this capacity until 1942, when Grant called Joseph Fielding Smith to be the church's Presiding Patriarch. Richards was called, sustained, and set apart as the Acting Presiding Patriarch to the LDS Church because he was not a direct descendant of the first Latter Day Saint patriarch, Joseph Smith, Sr. During his tenure as Acting Presiding Patriarch, Richards remained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and retained his seniority within that body.

President of the Twelve

With the death of LDS Church president Heber J. Grant, Richards became the second-most senior apostle in the church and thus the President of the Quorum of the Twelve on May 21, 1945, a position which he held until his death. He is the only person in the church's history to have been both the Presiding Patriarch and the President of the Quorum of the Twelve.

Death

Richards died in Salt Lake City of coronary thrombosis. He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery. After Richards's death, Delbert L. Stapley was called in the October general conference of that year to fill the vacancy, and David O. McKay became President of the Quorum.