W. Eugene Hansen

W. Eugene Hansen was an emeritus General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 1, 1989. From August 15, 1993, until August 15, 1998, he served in the Presidency of the Seventy. He was granted emeritus status on October 3, 1998. He served as president of the Salt Lake Temple from 1999 to 2002.

Hansen was born on August 23, 1928, in Tremonton, Utah. He grew up on a farm near Garland, Utah, and went on to study law at the University of Utah after he earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Utah State University. Before he finished his law degree, he served in the military, first in Fort Lee, Virginia, before he was posted to Korea from 1954 to 1955. In the army reserves, he attained the rank of colonel. With a law degree completed, he practiced personal injury law in Utah and was president of the Utah Bar Association from 1979 to 1980.

Hansen and his wife, Jeanine, were the parents of six children. He passed away on November 5, 2016, fifteen days after his wife died. Three of their children preceded them in death.