Erich W. Kopischke

Erich Willi Kopischke (born October 20, 1956) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since March 2007.

Kopischke was born in Elmshorn, West Germany. His parents, Kurt Kopischke and Helga Haupt, had joined the LDS Church during World War II. Shortly before Kopischke's birth, his parents had fled East Germany. As a youth, Kopischke always suffered motion sickness during trips to the LDS Church's Bern Switzerland Temple.

From 1975 to 1977, Kopischke served as a LDS Church missionary in the Germany Munich Mission. In December 1978, Kopischke married Christiane Glück in the Bern Switzerland Temple. They now have seven children.

Kopischke served in many callings in the church. He was the stake president in Nuremberg from 1994 to 2003. During this time, the English-speaking stake composed primarily of United States military personnel and the German-speaking Nuremberg District were combined. Since Kopischke had learned English while working in the mission office on his mission, he was linguistically qualified to preside over the stake during this time.

Kopischke spent most of the 1980s and early 1990s working in the insurance industry. In 1996, he became the Church Educational System director in Germany. From 2003 to 2006, he served as president of the LDS Church's Germany Berlin Mission. On returning from this assinment he became an area seventy. While in this position, he was a counselor in presidency of the church's Europe Central Area. He served in this position until his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy in 2007. In 2008, Kopischke was made the first counselor in the new Europe Area presidency.

References

*"2008 Deseret Morning News Church Almanac" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Morning News, 2007) p. 48
*"Church News", June 7, 2008; April 21, 2007; October 21, 2006; October 7, 2006; March 29, 2003; April 30, 1994
* [http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=fb24b5658af22110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1 “Elder Erich W. Kopischke,”] "Ensign", May 2007, p. 125

External links

* [http://gapages.com/kopisew1.htm Grampa Bill's General Authority Pages: Erich W. Kopischke]