President Jeffrey R. Holland Dies at 85; Church of Jesus Christ Mourns

A Voice That Calmed Storms Falls Silent

Salt Lake City—The mahogany-paneled hallway outside the Church Administration Building felt colder than usual at dawn on Tuesday. Inside, the Quorum of the Twelve had gathered through the night, their hushed deliberations interrupted only by the soft click of a closing door as they emerged to confirm what millions had feared: President Jeffrey R. Holland, 85, had slipped away peacefully in his sleep shortly after midnight.

The Orchard & the Auditorium

Growing up in the orchard town of St. George, Holland learned early that words could taste like the peaches he picked—sweet, urgent, perishable. Decades later, those same words would fill the 21,000-seat Conference Center, ricocheting off granite pillars and into earbuds from Lagos to Lima. He once joked that if the Savior could feed 5,000 with five loaves, perhaps a farm boy could try the same with syllables.

Thursday’s Telegram, Friday’s Funeral

Church spokesman Doug Andersen announced that funeral services will be held Friday at 11 a.m. in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. The public viewing, Thursday evening, is expected to draw lines reminiscent of 1995, when President Howard W. Hunter lay in repose. Local officials anticipate road closures on West Temple and North Temple; TRAX lines will run extra cars until 1 a.m.

"He spoke as if every sentence might be his last—and therefore ours to keep," said Sister Reyna I. Aburto, formerly of the General Presidency, voice cracking beneath the brim of a black bonnet.

From English Dean to Global Shepherd

Hollan’s trajectory was improbable: BYU English dean at 36, Church commissioner of education at 42, apostle at 53. Colleagues recall him pacing the basement of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at 3 a.m., marking student dissertations with red pen in one hand and a cordless phone in the other, counseling a missionary battling depression in Bolivia. He kept the missionary’s photo taped above his desk for 20 years.

Controversy & Compassion

Holland’s 2021 address to BYU faculty—imploring them to defend Mormonism’s "unique truth claims"—ignited national headlines and academic pushback. Yet that same week he quietly underwrote tuition for three Palestinian freshmen turned away by other scholarships. "Orthodoxy and empathy share a heartbeat," he told them.

What Happens Next

• The First Presidency is automatically dissolved upon death; counselors Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf resume their places in the Quorum.
• President Russell M. Nelson, 99, becomes the presiding authority; the longest-tenured apostle, Holland had been next in line.
• A new president of the Quorum of the Twelve will be chosen by seniority—likely President Dallin H. Oaks, 90, setting up another succession conversation sooner than many expected.

The Final Sermon

Holland’s last public appearance came April 6, when he quoted Emily Dickinson—"Hope is the thing with feathers"—and added, "I have seen that bird; it nests in covenant hearts." Members now plan to place paper birds on the fence around Temple Square this weekend, a quiet aviary of goodbye.