STEPHEN L. RICHARDS

Pres. S.L.Richards Former Maladian Died Tuesday

President Stephen L. Richards, 79, first counselor of the First Presidency of the LDS church, died Tuesday morning [May 19, 1959] of a heart ailment.

The church leader was taken by private ambulance to a Salt Lake City hospital and pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m. shortly after arrival.

A business executive and educator, President Richards since his appointment as a general authority in 1917 had devoted most of his time and attention to religious activities.

Only last Monday, on special assignment from President David O. McKay, President Richards flew to England on mission matters. He was accompanied by Mrs. Richards.

It was in April, 1951, that President McKay named President Richards to serve with him in the First Presidency.

President Richards was versatile in interests and abilities and was a successful lawyer, businessman, rancher and educator.

He was at the time of his death an officer or director of several large business institutions.

His life was characterized by struggle and his devotion to God.

He was born June 18, 1879, in Mendon, Cache County, to Dr. Stephen Longstroth and Emma Louise Stayner Richards. His grandfather was Dr. Willard Richards, a counselor to Brigham Young and an eye-witness to the slaying of Joseph Smith, founder and prophet of the LDS Church, at a Carthage, Ill. jail in June, 1884.

While President Richards was still a boy, his parents moved to Farmington, Davis County, where he attended public school and later the Davis Stake Academy, LDS University, Salt Lake High School and the University of Utah.

When he was 21, he married Irene Merrill of Salt Lake City, and they established a home in a one-room log cabin on a ranch in Malad Valley, Idaho.

The young rancher so impressed inhabitants of the area tha* they induced him to be principal of Malad public schools.

He was determined, however, to enter the legal profession and after saving enough money for a start, took his family to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he entered the law school of the University of Michigan.

President Richards transferred to the University of Chicago and was graduated cum laude in 1904, a member of the first graduating class of that law school.

For many years he was a successful practicing attorney in Salt Lake City and was an instructor at the University of Utah Law School for 10 years.

He served two terms as secretary of the Utah State Bar and at one time was vice president for Utah of the American Bar Assn.

When he was ordained a member of the LDS Council of Twelve Apostles Jan. 18, 1917, President Richards was senior member of the law firm of Richards, Hart and Van Dam.