LDS Flow A comprehensive online experience for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Early Life and Education
Dale Gunnar Renlund was born on November 13, 1952, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents were Finnish and Swedish immigrants who came to the United States to marry in an LDS Church temple. Renlund’s first language was Swedish. As a teenager, he lived in Sweden for three years where his father served as a building missionary for the LDS Church.
Renlund graduated from the University of Utah in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He then attended the University of Utah School of Medicine, graduating in 1980 with a Doctor of Medicine.
Medical Career
After completing his medical education, Renlund pursued a three-year internal medicine residency and a three-year cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 1986, he became a professor at the University of Utah, specializing in heart transplants.
From 1991 to 2009, Renlund served as the medical director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program. In 2000, he also became director of the Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment Program at Intermountain Health Center in Salt Lake City.
LDS Church Service
Renlund has served in various positions within the LDS Church, including:
- Bishop
- Ward Sunday School president
- High councilor
- Stake president
- Area seventy
In April 2009, Renlund was called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, a full-time ecclesiastical position. From 2009 to 2014, he served in Johannesburg, South Africa, overseeing the church in about 20 countries.
Apostleship
In October 2015, Renlund was sustained as an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve. He was one of three new apostles sustained at that time, filling vacancies created by the deaths of L. Tom Perry, Boyd K. Packer, and Richard G. Scott.
As an apostle, Renlund is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. He has participated in various church initiatives, including:
- Speaking at international forums on religious freedom
- Participating in suicide awareness videos
- Dedicating the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
Personal Life
Renlund married Ruth Lybbert in 1977. They are the parents of one daughter. Ruth Renlund was a personal injury trial lawyer and is an ovarian cancer survivor.
