Jeffrey R. Holland, a high-ranking official in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was next in line to become the faith's president, has died.
He was 85 and had been an apostle since 1994.
Holland died early Saturday morning in Salt Lake City from complications associated with kidney disease, the church announced.
He’ll be remembered as a leader with “unshaken and unquestionable faith,” said Patrick Mason, professor of religious studies and history at Utah State University.
“His faith reached deep down into every part of his body,” Mason said. “Just absolutely stout in his defense of the faith, but that was always combined with a deep compassion for individuals.”
Holland led the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set policy while overseeing the church’s many business interests.
He was the next longest-tenured member of the quorum after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him next in line to lead the church under a long-established succession plan.
Henry B. Eyring, who is 92 and one of Oaks' two top counselors, is now next in line for the presidency.
Holland had been hospitalized over the Christmas holiday for treatment related to ongoing health complications, the church said. Experts on the faith pointed to his declining health in October when Oaks did not select Holland as a counselor. He attended several church events that month in a wheelchair.
I grieve the passing of President Jeffrey R. Holland. Our relationship in education and Church service began more than 50 years ago. It was a long and loving relationship in the work of the Lord.
— Dallin H. Oaks (@OaksDallinH) December 27, 2025
During my service as President of Brigham Young University, I had the privilege of… pic.twitter.com/k57zhITwT9
His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in the coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council. Apostles are all men in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.
Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and worked for many years in education administration before his call to join the ranks of church leadership. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, the faith's flagship school, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s global education system.
“He was really a transformational president at BYU,” said Mason, the USU religious studies professor. “Really helping BYU come into the modern era as a great university that would be large, that would focus on research and excellence in academics, while at the same time being deeply grounded in faith.”
And Holland was instrumental in getting the BYU Jerusalem Center built. It was a significant accomplishment since the church built the satellite campus on prime property overlooking Old Jerusalem.
The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its Torch of Liberty Award for helping foster greater understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.
Holland is widely remembered for a controversial 2021 speech in which he called on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in defense of the faith's teachings against same-sex marriage. The talk, known colloquially as “the musket fire speech," became required reading for BYU freshmen in 2024, raising concern among LGBTQ+ students and advocates.
Mason has publicly criticized the speech and said there’s evidence that Holland gave it on assignment. But Mason doesn’t think it should be remembered as a hallmark of who he was or how he led the church or BYU.
“It did reflect, I think, some things that he deeply believed in terms of the defense of the faith,” Mason said. “But I suspect that if he could go back, that he might want to at least change some of the language.”
What Holland should be remembered for, Mason believes, is his empathy for people and his numerous testimonies of the Book of Mormon.
“It's some of the fiercest and most eloquent modern testimonies of the Book of Mormon.”
In his last address to the whole church in October, Holland once again testified that the book of scripture came from God.
“It has been, for me, a rod of safety for my soul, a transcendent and penetrating light of revelation, an illumination of the path I must walk when mists of darkness come,” he said.
Holland will be replaced in church leadership, but Mason thinks there won’t be anyone quite like him.
“I think he exemplified so much of what the modern church aspires to be, in terms of being fully dedicated to the faith of the fathers and the tradition as it's been handed down, while also being a church that is poised for leadership and impact in the 21st century.”
Holland was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Terry Holland. He is survived by their three children, 13 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
This story was written by Hannah Schoenbaum of the Associated Press with a contribution from KUER religion reporter Ciara Hulet
