Oldest Apostle’s death is the second in as many weeks
LDS Apostle David B. Haight passed away at 4:15 saturday morning of causes incident to age. He was 97. His death comes just ten days after the passing of fellow apostle Neal A. Maxwell.
Haight was named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 8 January 1976. Elder Haight had served as an Assistant to the Twelve since 6 April 1970.
A noted civic and business leader in California prior to assuming full-time Church responsibilities, Haight served as mayor of Palo Alto, California, from 1959 to 1963. He resigned as mayor in order to accept an appointment as president of the Scottish Mission.
His business activities included executive positions with the ZCMI department store in Salt Lake City, district and regional manager in California and Chicago for Montgomery Ward and Company and president of a retail organization in Palo Alto, California. After returning from Scotland, he served as assistant to the president of Brigham Young University.
During World War II he served as a commander in the United States Navy, receiving a special citation from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Haight, served as a member of the Church Board of Education. He was a member of the boards of trustees of Brigham Young University, BYU Hawaii, BYU Idaho and LDS Business College. He had been a director of Bonneville International Corporation, First Security Bank, Huntsman Chemical Corporation and Deseret Management Corporation.
Other Church service included callings as a regional representative, president of the Scottish Mission, member of the Priesthood Missionary Committee, president of the Palo Alto California Stake, stake high councilor and bishop’s counselor.
After attending Oakley High School and Albion State Normal School in Idaho, Elder Haight completed his schooling at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
In 1978 Elder Haight received the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” from Utah State University for his service to the university. On 11 July 1991, the David B. Haight Alumni Center was dedicated on the Utah State University campus by Howard W. Hunter, then president of the Church. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Brigham Young University in August 1998.
He married Ruby Olson of Salt Lake City on 4 September 1930 in the Salt Lake Temple. Together, they delighted in their three children, 18 grandchildren and more than 70 great-grandchildren.