Bruce D. Porter
Bruce D. Porter | |
---|---|
First Quorum of the Seventy | |
First Quorum of the Seventy | |
April 5, 2003 | – December 28, 2016|
Called by | Gordon B. Hinckley |
Personal details | |
Born | Bruce Douglas Porter September 18, 1952 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
Spouse(s) | Susan H. Porter |
Children | 4 |
Bruce Douglas Porter (September 18, 1952 – December 28, 2016) was a political scientist, university professor, and general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Biography
Porter was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and attended Brigham Young University (BYU).[1] He was a recipient of the David O. McKay scholarship. Porter married Susan H. Porter on February 2, 1977, in the Washington D.C. Temple. They are the parents of four children.[1] His wife later became a counselor and president in the LDS Church's Primary General Presidency.[2]
Porter attended Harvard University and received a doctoral degree in political science emphasizing Russian affairs. He spent a summer in the Soviet Union as an exchange student during his doctoral program. He worked for the federal government on the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and as executive director of the U.S. Board for International Broadcasting. He worked for two years for the Northrop Corporation and worked from 1990 to 1993 as the Bradley Senior Research Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. He later taught political science at BYU.[4] Porter was 6'7" tall and was known for his 'self-deprecating manner and penchant for compassion'.[4]
LDS Church service
In 1970, Porter interrupted his BYU studies to serve as a full-time missionary for the LDS Church in the Germany Central Mission, based in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Porter served in Germany under two mission presidents who were both native Germans holding United States citizenship, Walter H. Kindt and Rudolf K. Poecker. They served as consecutive mission presidents and had served as missionary companions in the immediate postwar period in what became communist East Germany. Kindt and Poecker had both been arrested a number of times by Soviet authorities because of their missionary activities, and Poecker used his time in Russian incarceration to learn the Russian language and tried to teach the doctrines of the church to any Russians he met. The stories that these two men frequently related to the missionaries under their supervision inspired Porter to change his university major to Russian Affairs.
In the 1980s, while a resident in
Porter was initially called to the
Porter died from a pulmonary infection on December 28, 2016, at his home in Salt Lake City.
Publications
Porter is the author of books and articles on politics, religion, Russian foreign policy, and international relations.[6]
- The USSR in Third World Conflicts: Soviet Arms and Diplomacy in Local Wars 1945–1980 by Bruce D. Porter (Cambridge University Press, July 25, 1986, ISBN 978-0521310642)
- Red Armies In Crisis: Creating The Post-communist Order by Bruce D. Porter (Westview Press, May 6, 1992, ISBN 978-0892061754)
- War and the Rise of the State by Bruce D. Porter (Free Press, February 1, 2002, ISBN 978-1629722474)
- The King of Kings by Bruce D. Porter (Deseret Book Company, February 21, 2011, ISBN 978-1573458863)
References
- ^ a b Green, Rebecca. "Elder Bruce D. Porter of LDS Church’s Quorum of the Seventy dies at 64", Fox 13 News, 29 December 2016. Retrieved on 3 April 2022.
- ^ Stephenson, Kathy. "LDS Church names new Primary presidency and general authorities", The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 April 2022. Retrieved on 3 April 2022.
- ^ "Bruce Douglas Porter Obituary: A Legacy Of Faith And Service". BioGeek. April 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c Stack, Peggy Fletcher. "Mormon authority Bruce Porter, tall in stature and long in service, dies at 64", The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 January 2017. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Area Leadership Assignments, 2014", Church News, 3 May 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ "Bruce D. Porter", American Heritage, 1994. Retrieved on 3 April 2022.