SALT LAKE CITY —  President Jeffrey R. Holland of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away surrounded by his family early on Saturday morning, December 27^th. He had been suffering from kidney disease and was hospitalized on Christmas Eve. He was 85.

He always declared his faith fearlessly. “ I know, beyond anything else I know, this is God’s Church, this is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

On October 14th, 2025, Jeffrey R. Holland became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when the new First Presidency was announced. He pledged his love and loyalty to President Dallin H. Oaks and just days later, traveled to Grand Junction, Colorado to dedicate the new temple.

This was reminiscent of his decades-long devotion to the Lord and willingness to travel the world, greeting the Saints and sharing his testimony.

Born in St. George, Utah in 1940, he was graduated with a Bachelor’s in English from BYU and both a Master’s and Ph.D. from Yale. He married Patricia Terry in the St. George Temple in 1963. They are the parents of 3 children and grandparents of 13.

After 60 years of marriage, she preceded him in death in July 2023.

“Since Pat’s gone, I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about death the way I’ve thought about it now. Long nights and tearful days… and what I came out of it knowing … in its own way, a beautiful moment in the Plan of Salvation and I’ll be with her again.”

Jeffrey R. Holland was called as a General Authority in 1989 and then ordained an Apostle in 1994, following the death of President Ezra Taft Benison. In 2023 he became acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

From 1980 to 1989, he served as 9th president of Brigham Young University. He immediately greeted the students, standing next to his wife.

“What you see is what you get, both of us! The Pat and Jeff Show!”

 Many believe his greatest achievement during those years was BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. I asked him about it in 2014.

“The expenditure of heart and soul to get it built. It’s a very personal thing for me, I get emotional about it, kind of like one of my children.”

He was at the center of plans, discussions and negotiations.

“When we finally got that property, it was nothing short of a miracle.”

When Jerusalem city leaders granted BYU permission to build the center, protests from a minority group of Orthodox Jews brought international media attention.

It was 1985 and then BYU President Holland addressed them. “We’ve come in peace and we’ve come with understanding.”

In the end, the Church promised never to proselyte there.

“These were difficult months, stretching into years, actually. MayorTeddy Kollek really put his name, his reputation, his mayoral office on the line to say, ‘ this is an open city’ and then said,’ this is the most beautiful building built in Jerusalem in the last 100 years.’ “

Outreach to people of all faith was a theme of President Holland’s life. In 2012, he spoke to  an interfaith group.

“I hope I can tell you something of what I believe and why I have committed my life, my loyalty, and everything I hold dear to that belief.”

From 2002 to 2004, Elder and Sister Holland, on assignment from President Hinckley, lived in Santiago, Chile, where he presided over the Church’s Chile Area. He returned saying he holds a special place in his heart for many Chileans.

In 2012, Elder Holland accepted an invitation to speak at Harvard Law School and used the opportunity to make a very direct statement.

“We are not considered Christian by some I suppose because we are not fourth-century Christians … when we speak of ‘restored Christianity’ we speak of the Church as it was, not as it became when great councils were called to debate and anguish over what it was they really believed.”

In 2015, Baroness Emma Nicholson invited Elder Holland to speak to members of the British Parliament about the Church’s partnership with her humanitarian group, AMAR.

“To do as Jesus taught about caring for the poor, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. To do unto others as they would do unto us. These very basic Christian premises are the incentive, that the motivation for us to do what we do.”

President Holland’s love of the British Isles ran deep. He served as a young missionary there and has said he was born spiritually there. In 2021 he returned with his former companions, Elder Quentin L. Cook and President Russell M. Ballard. They walked the same paths they as young missionaries and visited with people they knew and spoke to young missionaries serving there.

Following a lengthy health battle in 2023, President Holland returned to General Conference in April of 2024 and spoke of nearly dying.

“Part of what I received was an admonition to return to my ministry with more urgency, more consecration, more focus on the Savior.”

And he did that with enthusiasm, returning home to rededicate the St. George Temple in December of 2023.

“I grew up in its shadow … I was baptized here at 8, I was sealed to my beautiful wife and endowed as I prepared to go on my mission. All of those experiences come together for me in my feelings today.”

President Holland also focused part of his ministry in his last two years on social media messages of faith, inviting everyone to join him in scripture study.

With a passionate voice for truth and a sure conviction of faith – President Jeffrey R. Holland declared the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“May we cry out then the louder, ‘Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.’ I promise with apostolic fervor and prophetic conviction that He will hear you.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.