This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
"Our families, certainly, know of our faults."
- ELDER NEAL A. MAXWELL
to an Associated Press reporter
Anyone who spent much time with LDS Apostle Neal A. Maxwell quickly learned this about him: He was genuinely humble, intellectually curious, an engaging teacher and public speaker, thoughtfully and deeply religious, and, as the author of more than 30 books, an impassioned lover of the English language.
And he was courageous. Maxwell's passing Wednesday night followed a seven-year battle with leukemia that at times made death a familiar presence and inspired not only members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but many not of his faith who had been enriched by his remarkable sensitivity toward others.
As a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 23 years, Maxwell was among a group of men who are held in the highest esteem within the faith. Once, in an interview, he was asked how he coped with the reverential awe accorded LDS apostles. He immediately drew a distinction between respect for his office and for him as a man who struggled, like everyone else, to live according to his beliefs. His family, he said, knew him as far from perfect.
Maxwell, a World War II combat veteran who later worked for a time in the Central Intelligence Agency and as an aide to the late Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, R-Utah, made his major professional mark at the University of Utah, his alma mater. Working his way up through public relations and administrative positions, he became dean of students and then academic vice-president before his church came calling.
Maxwell was chosen to head the LDS Church's vast education system and later was made a member of the Quorum of the Seventy before his elevation to the Twelve in 1981.
As a frequent speaker in church conferences, Maxwell delivered his sermons in richly textured language that nearly always contained rhetorical flourishes. One alliterative example, from a 1973 speech at Brigham Young University: "A distinctive, differential valuation of truth could be a more profound protrusion . . . "
Elder Neal A. Maxwell's legacy in his native city and state includes his success as a bridge-builder. At the University of Utah he was known as a Mormon who could, and would, relate with equal care and attention to non-Mormons. As a leader in his church he counseled Latter-day Saints to be more inclusive. As a cancer patient he spoke for the afflicted. As a man he spoke eloquently of the human and the divine.
His death at 78 came way too early.