Presiding Bishops

Presiding Bishops

"As a holder of the keys of presidency over the Aaronic Priesthood of the Church and thus over all other bishops, the Presiding Bishop is one of the General Authorities of the Church. He sits as a judge in Israel, is responsible for many of the temporal concerns of the kingdom, receives consecrations for the care of the Lords' poor, and is called to travel and preach as an aid to building up the kingdom." -- Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 592.

                                         Presiding Bishop

       Presiding Bishop           Called as         Released as       Length of service        Other offices held

   1. Edward Partridge           04 Feb 1831        27 May 1840       09 years 04 months               --

   2. Newel K Whitney            06 Apr 1847        23 Sep 1850       03 years 06 months               --

   3. Edward Hunter              07 Apr 1851        16 Oct 1883       32 years 06 months               --

   4. William B Preston          06 Apr 1884        04 Dec 1907       23 years 08 months               --

   5. Charles W Nibley           04 Dec 1907        28 May 1925       17 years 06 months        First Presidency

   6. Sylvester Q Cannon         04 Jun 1925        06 Apr 1938       12 years 10 months             Apostle

   7. LeGrand Richards           06 Apr 1938        06 Apr 1952       14 years 00 months             Apostle

   8. Joseph L Wirthlin          06 Apr 1952        30 Sep 1961       09 years 06 months               --

   9  John H Vandenberg          30 Sep 1961        06 Apr 1972       10 years 06 months       Assistant to Twelve

  10. Victor L Brown             06 Apr 1972        08 Apr 1985       13 years 00 months             Seventy

  11. Robert D Hales             06 Apr 1985        02 Apr 1994       09 years 00 months             Apostle

  12. Merrill J Bateman          02 Apr 1994        02 Nov 1995       01 year  09 months             Seventy

  13. H David Burton             27 Dec 1995        31 Mar 2012       16 years 05 months             Seventy

  14. Gary E Stevenson           31 Mar 2012          serving                                        Seventy

Interesting notes:
1) Edward Hunter served the longest as Presiding Bishop, serving over 32 years. Merrill J. Bateman served the shortest period of time as Presiding Bishop, serving

just less than two years. Elder Bateman was released due to his assignment as president of Brigham Young University.
2) As noted above, 3 of the 14 (21%) brethren who served as Presiding Bishop went on to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (Sylvester Q. Cannon,

LeGrand Richards, and Robert D. Hales).
3) H. David Burton, the 13th Presiding Bishop in this dispensation, is the great-great-grandson of Robert Taylor Burton, who served as 2nd Counselor to Presiding

Bishop Edward Hunter and 1st Counselor to Presiding Bishop William B. Preston.
4) Only three of the 14 brethren that have served as Presiding Bishop have passed away while serving as Presiding Bishop. The three are Edward Partridge, Newel

K. Whitney, and Edward Hunter (the first three Presiding Bishops).

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