James E. Faust - 1920 - 2007

My favorite LDS Democrat has died. God bless him.

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James E. Faust, the 87-year-old second counselor to LDS President Gordon B.Hinckley, died today. He was 87.

James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidencyof the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has died today.Church officials say the 87-year-old died at 12:20 a.m. He reportedly passed away surrounded by his family.

Church officials say he died of "causes incident to age." Faust had served in the church's governing First Presidency since 1995,and had been a general authority of the faith for 35 years. He had previously served four years as an Assistant to the Twelve (the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the second-highest presiding body) before being appointed a member of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy(other senior leaders in the Church) on 1 October 1976. His most recent assignments include vice chairman of the Church Board ofEducation; the board of trustees of Brigham Young University; the Welfare Services Executive Committee; and Deseret Management Corporation.

He was born 31 July 1920, in Delta, Utah. He participated as a member ofthe University of Utah track team in 1938 and ran the quarter-mile and mile relay. His college career was interrupted first to serve as a missionary forthe Church in Brazil and later by World War II, during which he served inthe U.S. Army Air Corps and was discharged as a first lieutenant. In 1948 hegraduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's and Juris Doctor degree. He began thepractice of law in Salt Lake City and continued until his appointment as ageneral authority of the Church in 1972.

He served as a member of the Utah Legislature (Democrat) from 1949 to 1951, as an advisor to the American Bar Journal, and president of the Utah Bar Association in 1962-1963. U.S. He received the Distinguished Lawyer Emeritus Award from the Utah Bar Association in 1995. In August of 1997, he received an Honorary Doctors Degree of Christian Service from Brigham Young University.

He was honored as a Distinguished Alumni at the University of Utah in 1999, and was awarded the Honorary Order of the Coif at Brigham YoungUniversity in 2000. In 2002, he was given the Marion G. Romney Distinguished Service Award by Brigham Young University Law School, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctors of Law degree by the University of Utah. President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in 1962. In 1998 President Faust received a Brazilian national citizenship award- an honor given to only a select few world leaders -- and was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Sao Paulo. Married to the former Ruth Wright of Salt Lake City, they are theparents of two daughters and three sons. They have 23 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, called Faust a "great asset to this community."He was a compassionate man and a great teacher," said the congressman,who is on the scene of the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster. "This is a great loss."