A latter-day first: Church has 4 nonagenarian apostles, including entire First Presidency

President Eyring turned 90 years old on May 31, joining President Nelson, 98; President Ballard, 94; and President Oaks, 90

1 June 2023, 6:16 AM MDT

President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, greets President Russell M. Nelson as he arrives with his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, and President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor, at the start of the Saturday afternoon session of the 188th Annual General Conference of the Church in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on March 31, 2018. Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

By Scott Taylor

With President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, celebrating his 90th birthday Wednesday, May 31, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has for the first time four nonagenarian apostles, including all three members of the First Presidency.

Leading the four who are 90 years or older is President Russell M. Nelson, the 98-year-old Church President, who will turn 99 in September and has been since April 14, 2022, the Church’s longest-living President.

President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, celebrated his 90th birthday last August, and President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is 94 and will turn 95 in October.

Read more from about the blessings of age in leadership here. See a comparison of the First Presidency’s length of tenure to others in Church history here.

Current First Presidency, Quorum of Twelve Apostles are the 6th-longest tenured in Church history

It is only the seventh time in the Church’s 193-year history that two or more of the senior leaders — presidents of the Church, counselors in the First Presidency or members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — have been 90 years old or older at the same time.

It first happened on July 19, 1966, when President Joseph Fielding Smith, who at the time was both President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and an additional First Presidency counselor, turned 90, joining 92-year-old Church President David O. McKay. President Smith succeeded President McKay following the latter’s death at age 96 in early 1970; President Smith lived to be 95.

On June 23, 2000, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley turned 90. Elder David B. Haight was 93 years old at the time — and lived four more years before passing at the age of 97.

Nearly three years after Elder Haight’s death, President Hinckley was briefly joined by another member of the Twelve, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, who turned 90 on June 11, 2007. President Hinckley celebrated his 97th birthday two weeks later and lived for six more months.

The first time the Church had three Apostles in their 90s came in 2014. Elder L. Tom Perry had turned 90 in August 2012 and was 92 when President Nelson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, turned 90 on Sept. 9, 2014, and President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Twelve, turned 90 the following day. Elder Perry died eight months later and President Packer passed away a little more than a month after that.

President Nelson was nearly 93 years old and President of the Twelve when Church President Thomas S. Monson turned 90 on Aug. 17, 2017. President Monson died five months later.

President Nelson was 94 when President Ballard turned 90 on Oct, 8, 2018. And President Oaks made the Church’s second-ever trio of nonagenarian apostles when he turned 90 on Aug. 12 of last year, with President Nelson 97 and President Ballard 93.

The group of apostles in their 90s will remain rather exclusive for some time, as the next oldest members of the Twelve — Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Elder Quentin L. Cook — are each 82 years old.