SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Mormon leader Richard G. Scott died Tuesday at the age of 86 – leaving the religion with three openings on its top governing body for the first time in more than a century.
Scott died from natural causes at his home in Salt Lake City surrounded by his family, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement. Scott had been a member of a church governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1988.
He is the third top member of the quorum to die this year, leaving three vacancies on the quorum for the first time since 1906, church officials said.
Quorum president Boyd K. Packer died in July from natural causes, and quorum member L. Tom Perry died in May from cancer. Replacements for the trio are expected to be named in the coming months, perhaps at the religion’s twice-a-year conference on Oct. 3-4.
Six other members among the religion’s top 15 leaders are also 80 or older, including church president Thomas S. Monson. He is 88 and is feeling the effects of his age, according to church officials. Russell M. Nelson, 91, is next in line to become church president based on being the longest-tenured member of the quorum.