Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
3 February 2008(2008-02-03) (aged 67)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
2 October 2004(2004-10-02) (aged 63) – 3 February 2008(2008-02-03) (aged 67)
End reason	Called as Second Counselor in the First Presidency
LDS Church Apostle
7 October 2004(2004-10-07) (aged 63)
Reason	Deaths of David B. Haight and Neal A. Maxwell
Presidency of the Seventy
15 August 2002(2002-08-15) (aged 61) – 2 October 2004(2004-10-02) (aged 63)
End reason	Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
First Quorum of the Seventy
7 April 1996(1996-04-07) (aged 55) – 2 October 2004(2004-10-02) (aged 63)
End reason	Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Second Quorum of the Seventy
2 April 1994(1994-04-02) (aged 53) – 7 April 1996(1996-04-07) (aged 55)
End reason	Transferred to the First Quorum of the Seventy
Military career
1959-1965
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Personal details
Born	Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf (1940-11-06) 6 November 1940 Moravská Ostrava, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Spouse(s)	Harriet Reich Uchtdorf (1962-present)
Children	2

Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf (born 6 November 1940) is a German former aviator and airline executive. He currently serves as the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is the eleventh most senior apostle in the ranks of the Church.

Early life and education

Uchtdorf was born to ethnic Germans Karl Albert Uchtdorf and Hildegard Else Opelt in Moravská Ostrava (German: Mährisch-Ostrau), which at the time was in the Nazi-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Ostrava, Czech Republic). When he was a child, his family moved to Zwickau in eastern Germany while his father was away in the army, traveling through areas being bombed. As a result of his grandmother's encounter with an LDS church member in a soup line, Uchtdorf's family joined the LDS Church when he was still young.

When Uchtdorf was about ten, his father's political beliefs, incongruent with Soviet rule, earned him the label of "dissenter", thus putting their lives in danger. They fled East Germany and resettled in American-occupied West Germany.

He started studying mechanical engineering at age 18 but later continued Business Administration in Cologne, Germany and graduated from Institut pour l'Etude des Methodes de Direction de l'Entreprise (today the International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland with an MBA. He received an honorary doctorate in International Leadership from Brigham Young University during the April 2009 graduation ceremony.

Aviator

Since Uchtdorf faced conscription into the newly formed Bundeswehr he chose instead to volunteer for the West German Air Force in 1959, aged 19, to become a fighter pilot. Due to an agreement between the West German and US Governments, Uchtdorf trained as a fighter pilot in Big Spring, Texas where he excelled, earning the coveted Commander's Trophy (USAF) for being the best student pilot in his class. After earning wings from both the German and US Air force, he served for 6 years as fighter pilot in West Germany, leaving in 1965 to join Lufthansa Airlines. By 1970, at 29 years old, Uchtdorf had reached the rank of Captain with Lufthansa. He was appointed in 1975 as head of Lufthansa's new Arizona Training School, then in 1980 he was made head chief pilot of cockpit crews and then senior vice president of flight operations in 1982. He left Lufthansa in 1996, two years after being called to the Quorums of the Seventy.

Church service

Uchtdorf visiting the Accra, Ghana LDS mission in 2007

Uchtdorf twice served as a stake president in the LDS Church, presiding over the Frankfurt Germany Stake and the Mannheim Germany Stake.

Uchtdorf was called as a general authority of the LDS Church on 2 April 1994, with an assignment in the Second Quorum of the Seventy. On April 7, 1996 he was called to serve in the First Quorum of Seventy. Uchtdorf became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on 15 August 2002.

Apostle

Uchtdorf was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 2 October 2004. He was ordained an apostle on 7 October 2004 by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. Uchtdorf and David A. Bednar were called to fill the vacancies created by the July 2004 deaths of quorum members David B. Haight and Neal A. Maxwell. As an apostle, Uchtdorf is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

He is only the eleventh apostle to be born outside the United States. He is the second member of the First Presidency who is not a native English speaker. Uchtdorf is the first German apostle in church history and was the first born outside of North America since the death of John A. Widtsoe in 1952. He is the first resident of a country outside the United States or Canada to be called to be a general authority who later became an apostle. Others emigrated to America for reasons other than being called as a general authority.

While in Slovakia on 12 May 2006, Uchtdorf offered a prayer dedicating the land "for the preaching of the gospel"—an LDS Church custom usually observed at the time missionaries arrive in a new country. Although missionaries had been in what is now Slovakia for over a century, since the split with the Czech Republic this had not been performed in the new country.

Counselor in the First Presidency

On 3 February 2008, Uchtdorf became the Second Counselor to Thomas S. Monson in the Church's First Presidency.

Family

Uchtdorf and his wife, Harriet Reich Uchtdorf, were married on 14 December 1962. They are the parents of two children.

Works

• Uchtdorf, Dieter F. (2011), Your happily ever after, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, ISBN 9781606416525, OCLC 727126663
• —— (2010), The remarkable soul of a woman, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, ISBN 9781606412442, OCLC 502304343
• —— (2005), Sister Eternal, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, ISBN 9781590385357, OCLC 60931317

See also

• Church Educational System
• Council on the Disposition of the Tithes

References

• Avant, Gerry (26 September 2009), "Cockpit to pulpit: 50 years of flight", Church News
• Hill, Greg (22 March 2008), "Follow the Lord and He will provide", Church News
• Uchtdorf, Dieter F. (2004), "The Opportunity to Testify", Ensign {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• "General Authorities: President Dieter F. Uchtdorf", lds.org
• Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Dieter F. Uchtdorf
• Uchtdorf on Special Witnesses of Christ