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Neal Ash Maxwell, a Mormon apostle known
for the alliteration in his sermons and the poetry in his soul, died
Wednesday after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 78.
He died at home, surrounded by his family, at 11:45 p.m., LDS Church
spokesman Dale Bills said in a news release Thursday.
It was the 23rd anniversary of his call to the LDS Church's Quorum of
Twelve Apostles, one of the highest ranking bodies of the 12-million member
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Life is "a tutorial from a loving God who wants us to be stretched, to
become more like his son, Jesus," Maxwell told a PBS interviewer in 1996.
That concept was a frequent theme in his sermons and his prodigious
writings on faith, and one he put to the test during his last seven years of
life.
Maxwell was named to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 198'. He had been a
member of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy since it was
reorganized in 1976. He also served 2 1/2 years as an assistant to the
Council of the Twelve.
He held numerous church, educational and political positions including
directing the church's worldwide educational system, a position he held from
August 1970 to April 1976.
He was bishop of Salt Lake City's University Sixth Ward, a member of the
General Board of the church's youth organization, a regional representative
of the Twelve Apostles, served a Canadian mission and worked on the general
board of the church's youth organization and Adult Correlation Committee.
Maxwell was born July 6, 1926, in Salt Lake City to Clarence Homer and
Emma Ash Maxwell. He told the PBS interviewer, Hugh Hewitt, that as a young
man he lacked self-esteem.
"I raised pigs. I had a severe case of acne. I didn't grow when I should
have and did not make the basketball team when I should have," Maxwell said
in an interview published in Searching for God in America, the book that
resulted from the PBS television series.
"The Lord was nudging me away from basketball - maybe the acne gave me
greater empathy for people."
In high school Maxwell turned from sports to a strong academic bent.
He attended the University of Utah, where he received a bachelor's degree in
1952, a master's degree in 1961 and an honorary law degree in 1969.
As a fresh-faced college graduate in 1952, Maxwell worked for the
Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. Two years later, he became a
legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, R-Utah, where he
worked from 1954 to 1956.
Soon tiring of the world of politics, Maxwell returned to the U., where
he held a variety of positions, starting as assistant director of public
relations and working up to dean of students.
In 1964, Maxwell was named vice president for planning and public affairs
at the university. He served at that post until 1967, when he became an
assistant professor of political science and executive vice president. He
served until 1970, when he was named head of the LDS education system.
During these years, Maxwell moderated a weekly television program titled
"Tell Me" on KUED. During his two decades as an LDS leader, Maxwell
authored nearly than 30 books, including A More Excellent Way and For the
Power Is In Them.
In the fall of 1998, the U. announced the establishment of the Neal A.
Maxwell Presidential Endowed Chair in Political Theory, Public Policy, and
Public Service.
He married Colleen Hinckley Nov. 22, 1950. They are parents of three
daughters, Rebecca, Nancy and Jane; one son Cory; and 20 grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.