Ronald A. Rasband

Ronald Anderson Rasband (born February 6, 1951) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He has been a general authority of the church since 2000. Currently, he is the eleventh most senior apostle in the church.[1]

Ronald A. Rasband
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
October 3, 2015
LDS Church Apostle
October 8, 2015
Reason	Deaths of L. Tom Perry, Boyd K. Packer, and Richard G. Scott
Presidency of the Seventy
August 15, 2005 – October 3, 2015
End reason	Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
First Quorum of the Seventy
April 1, 2000 – October 3, 2015
End reason	Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Personal details
Born	Ronald Anderson Rasband February 6, 1951 Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Spouse(s)	Melanie Twitchell
Children	5

Early life

Rasband was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson. He graduated from Olympus High School and later served a mission for the LDS Church in the Eastern States Mission.[2] The mission was headquartered in New York City and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western New York and Pennsylvania. He spent much of his mission assigned to areas of the city mainly consisting of co-op apartments. Rasband studied at the University of Utah.

After Rasband returned from his mission, he married Melanie Twitchell in 1973 and they are the parents of five children.[2]

Business career

In 1976, Rasband joined the Huntsman Container Corporation as a sales representative based in Ohio. This company would later be sold to Keyes Fibre Company. As of 1982, Rasband was living in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He was recruited to join the new Huntsman Chemical Corporation by Jon Huntsman, Sr.[3] In 1987, Rasband was appointed president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Chemical. Rasband was later a member of the corporation's board of directors.

LDS Church leadership

Rasband served as a member of the high council in the University of Utah 1st Stake from 1987 to 1989.[4] He was bishop of the University of Utah 10th Ward from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 1997 he was a member of the church's Pioneer Sesquicentennial Committee. In 1996, Rasband was called to return to the area where he had been a missionary, to serve as president of New York New York North Mission. The mission's geographic area not only included Manhattan and the Bronx, but also stretched upriver to the area of West Point, as well as the far western portion of Connecticut. One of his initiatives was to have missionaries serve as volunteers at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, in order to make the missionaries more visible.

General authority

Rasband was called as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 2000. As a general authority, Rasband has served in several area presidencies, including as a counselor in the presidency of the Europe Central Area. While serving in this position he dedicated the first chapel the church built in the Czech Republic.[5] He was later president of the Utah Salt Lake City Area and executive director of the church's Temple Department.

In 2005, Rasband was called as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the church's North America Northwest and North America West areas. In August 2007, he was assigned to the Utah North, Utah South, and Utah Salt Lake City areas.[6] In April 2009, Rasband became the senior and presiding member of the presidency when Neil L. Andersen was called to the Quorum of the Twelve. He served in this role until October 2015.

Quorum of the Twelve

In October 2015, Rasband was sustained as an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve. As an apostle, he is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer and revelator. He was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve along with Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund, filling vacancies created by the 2015 deaths of L. Tom Perry, Boyd K. Packer and Richard G. Scott. This was the first time since 1906 that three new apostles were sustained at once. They are the 98th, 99th and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church's history.[7][8]

In August 2018, Rasband threw the ceremonial first pitch for the annual LDS Night of the Los Angeles Angels.[9]

Community service

Rasband has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management. He has also been a member of the Board of Citizens for Positive Community Values, a Salt Lake City-based organization, and of the University of Utah's International Advisory Board.[4] On January 17, 2018, when Utah Governor Gary Herbert announced establishment of a task force to address teen suicide, Rasband participated in the announcement and will serve as a member of the task force.[10][11]

References

1. Apostolic seniority is generally understood to include all ordained apostles (including the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Seniority is determined by date of ordination, not by age or other factors. If two apostles are ordained on the same day, the older of the two is typically ordained first. See Succession to the presidency and Heath, Steven H. (Summer 1987). "Notes on Apostolic Succession" (PDF). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 20 (2): 44–56..
2. "Elder Ronald A. Rasband", Liahona, November 2015.
3. John Huntsman, Sr., Barefoot to Billionaire
4. "Elder Ronald A. Rasband biography", Church News, April 29, 2000.
5. "LDS Czechs celebrate first hall", Church News, December 1, 2001.
6. "New Area Leadership Assignments," Ensign, August 2007, pp. 76–77
7. "Three Named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: 100 apostles have now served since Church was organized", Newsroom, LDS Church, 2015-10-03
8. Norton, Abigail. "Elder Ronald A. Rasband sustained as member of LDS Quorum of Twelve". kutv.com. KUTV. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
9. "LDS Church's Ronald A. Rasband throws first pitch at Angels game". heraldextra.com. The Daily Herald. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
10. Utah Governor Task Force to Address Teen Suicide, Mormon Newsroom. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
11. Ramseth, Luke (January 17, 2018). "Utah's governor launches youth suicide task force as state reveals 44 suicide deaths among 10-to-17-year-olds in 2017". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 18 January 2018.

Further reading

• David Gomez, "Financial Star is a Recruiter for His Faith", New York Times, September 4, 1996.
• Jason Swensen, "New General Authorities: Youthful commitment made to his mother has lasted a lifetime", Church News, April 29, 2000.
• M. Russell Ballard, "Elder Ronald A. Rasband: Gifted Leader, Devoted Father", Liahona, April 2016.
• "Elder Ronald A. Rasband", Liahona, July 2000

External links

• General Authorities and General Officers: Elder Ronald A. Rasband