Elder Merrill J. Bateman: BYU President, General Authority, and Faithful Scholar (1936–2018)

Elder Merrill J. Bateman (1936–2018) was a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who served as a member of the Seventy and as Presiding Bishop, and from 1995 to 2003 as president of Brigham Young University—the first General Authority to hold that office. He served a mission to Great Britain in the mid-1950s, married Marilyn Scholes, and built a career as an economist and academic leader before his full-time Church service. As BYU president he sought to unite the life of the mind with the life of the Spirit, teaching that 'of one heart and one mind' the university and the kingdom need not be separate. His life is a faith-promoting witness of a faithful disciple who brought both learning and consecration to the Lord's work.