By Xinhua
Beijing : Gordon B. Hinckley, the Mormon church’s oldest president died of complications in Salt Lake City on Sunday at the age of 97, media reported Monday.
Hinckley was president for nearly 13 years since he took over as president and prophet on March 12, 1995.
During his presidency, the number of temples worldwide more than doubled, from 49 to more than 120 and church membership grew from about 9 million to more than 12 million.
Born on June 23, 1910, in Salt Lake City, Hinckley graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in arts. He planned to attend graduate school in journalism but a church mission took him to the Britain.
His grandfather knew church founder Joseph Smith and followed Brigham Young west to the Great Salt Lake Basin.
He was frequently under the influence of the story of the Mormon heritage of pioneer sacrifice and its importance as a model for the modern church.
Hinckley had been diagnosed with diabetes and was hospitalized in January 2006 for the removal of a cancerous growth in his large intestine. In April of the same year, he told a church conference he was “totally in the hands of the Lord.”
Before Hinckley, the oldest church president was David O. McKay who died at 96 in 1970.