Robert L. Backman

Robert LeGrand Backman (born 22 March 1922) was a Utah lawyer and politician and a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1978 to 1992.

Backman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but spent much his youth in South Africa, where his father LeGrand Backman was president of the South African Mission of the LDS Church. After returning to Utah for his last year of high school, Backman served as a LDS Church missionary in the Northern States Mission of the church.

Backman served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during the Second World War. Following the war, he enrolled at the law school at the University of Utah. He was a member of the Utah House of Representatives for two terms.

Before his call as a general authority of the LDS Church, Backman served as the president of the Northwestern States Mission of the church, as a temple sealer, and as a Regional Representative of the Twelve Apostles. In 1972, he was briefly the second assistant to W. Jay Eldredge, the general superintendent of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. When the YMMIA was renamed the Aaronic Priesthood–MIA in 1972, Backman was called as its general president. He served in this calling until 1974, when the Aaronic Priesthood–MIA was placed under the direct supervision of the church's presiding bishopric. In 1978, Backman became a member of the church's First Quorum of the Seventy. In 1979, he succeeded Neil D. Schaerrer as the general president of the Young Men organization. Backman is the only man to serve two non-consecutive terms as the general president of the Young Men.

In 1985, Backman was released from the Young Men and became a member of the seven-man Presidency of the Seventy, with Vaughn J. Featherstone succeeding him as president of the Young Men. Backman served in the presidency of the Seventy until August 1992; in October of that year, he was granted general authority emeritus status.

In 1986, Backman was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America for his efforts in incorporating Scouting into the LDS Church's Young Men organization.

Since 2005, Backman has been the president of the church's Jordan River Utah Temple.

Backman was married to Virginia Pickett, who died in 1999. They were the parents of seven children.

ee also

*George I. Cannon : a fellow counselor of Eldredge's at the time of Backman's service

References

*"News of the Church: Elder Robert LeGrand Backman," "Ensign", May 1978, 106
*"Deseret Morning News Church Almanac"

External links

* [http://gapages.com/backmrl1.htm Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Robert L. Backman]