RIP Thomas S. Monson

With the passing of President Thomas S. Monson, a chapter has closed on the leadership history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to be an Apostle at the age of 36, and no one as young has been called since. He became church president at age 80, after the passing of Gordon B. Hinckley. He can now be reunited with his wife Frances who died in 2013. He presided over a controversial time for the LDS church, when Prop 8 rocked California in 2008, when Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign brought renewed curiosity about the church, or when the November 2015 policy banned children of gay parents from getting baptized until they turn 18. Yet church membership grew from 13 to almost 16 million members in his time. For perspective of his lifetime of service, when he was first called to be an Apostle, church membership was just over 2 million.

The line of succession is as follows:
Year They Were Called-(Pres Who Called Them)-

(1)  1984-(SWK)-Russell M. Nelson - 9/9/1924 - 93
(2)  1984-(SWK)-Dallin H. Oaks - 8/12/1932 - 85
(3)  1985-(SWK)-M. Russell Ballard - 10/8/1928 - 89
(4)  1994-(HWH)-Jeffrey R. Holland - 12/3/1940 - 77
(5)  1995-(GBH)-Henry B. Eyring - 5/31/1933 - 84
(6)  2004-(GBH)-Dieter F. Uchtdorf - 11/6/1940 - 77
(7)  2004-(GBH)-David A. Bednar - 6/15/1952 - 65
(8)  2007-(GBH)-Quentin L. Cook - 9/8/1940 - 77
(9)  2008-(TSM)-D. Todd Christofferson - 1/24/1945 - 72
(10) 2009-(TSM)-Neil L. Andersen - 8/9/1951 - 66
(11) 2015-(TSM)-Ronald A. Rasband -- 2/6/1951 - 66
(12) 2015-(TSM)-Gary E. Stevenson - 8/5/1955 - 62
(13) 2015-(TSM)-Dale G. Renlund - 11/1/1952 - 65
(14) 2018-?
(15) 2018-?

I assume in the next couple days Russell M. Nelson will be announced officially as the next President of the LDS Church. I would also be surprised if he didn't retain Elders Eyring and Uchtdorf as his two counselors in the First Presidency. Dallin H. Oaks will then become the new President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Then in April, Pres. Nelson will call two new Apostles. (I'd be surprised if one of them wasn't the first non-white man called to be an Apostle in church history.)

Pres. Nelson became as an Apostle when he was 60, the oldest anyone's ever been called to be an Apostle who went on to become President. Nelson's 93, so he's a few weeks shy of being the oldest ever to become President. Joseph Fielding Smith was 93 years, 5 months, and 4 days old when he became President in 1970. He served 2 1/2 years before he died three weeks shy of his 96th birthday.

History of Church Presidents
1830/1830 - JOSEPH SMITH - 12/23/1805-6/27/1844                - 24 - 24 - 38
1835/1844 - BRIGHAM YOUNG - 6/1/1801 - 8/29/1877            - 34 - 43 - 76
1838/1877 - JOHN TAYLOR - 11/1/1808 - 7/25/1887                  - 29 - 68 - 78
1839/1887 - WILFORD WOODRUFF - 3/1/1807 - 9/2/1898       - 32 - 80 - 91
1849/1898 - LORENZO SNOW - 4/3/1814 - 10/10/1901             - 35 - 84 - 87
1866/1901 - JOSEPH F. SMITH - 11/13/1838 - 11/19/1918         - 27 - 63 - 80
1882/1918 - HEBER J. GRANT - 11/22/1856 - 5/14/1945           - 26 - 62 - 88
1903/1945 - GEORGE ALBERT SMITH - 4/4/1870 - 4/4/1951   - 33 - 75 - 81
1906/1951 - DAVID O. McKAY - 9/8/1873 - 1/18/1970               - 32 - 78 - 96
1910/1970 - JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH - 7/19/1876 - 7/2/1972 - 33 - 93 - 95
1941/1972 - HAROLD B. LEE - 3/28/1899 - 12/26/1973              - 42 - 73 - 74
1943/1973 - SPENCER W. KIMBALL - 3/28/1895 - 11/5/1985   - 48 - 78 - 90
1943/1985 - EZRA TAFT BENSON - 8/4/1899 - 5/30/1994         - 44 - 86 - 94
1959/1994 - HOWARD W. HUNTER - 11/14/1907 - 3/3/1995     - 51 - 86 - 87
1961/1995 - GORDON B. HINCKLEY - 6/23/1910 - 1/27/2008  - 51 - 84 - 97
1963/2008 - THOMAS S. MONSON - 8/21/1927 - 1/2/2018       - 36 - 80 - 90
1984/2018 - RUSSELL M. NELSON - 9/9/1924 - ?                     - 60 - 93 - ?