A 93-year-old retired heart surgeon with more than 100 great-grandchildren is line to become the next president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Lifelong Mormon Russell M. Nelson is expected to be tapped as successor to the late Thomas S. Monson who died Tuesday night at the age of 90, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Nelson practiced as a cardiothoracic-surgeon from the 1950s through the mid-1980s and was part of a team that invented a machine that made possible the first human open-heart surgery in 1951. He also served two years as an Army medical officer in the Korean War.
Now, as the Mormons' longest-serving apostle, Nelson is poised to serve them as the group's 17th president.
The Tribune reports that as a senior apostle, "Nelson has increasingly urged Mormons to resist challenges to the faith's core beliefs and evolving policies."
According to the official Mormon website, Nelson has 10 children, 57 grandchildren, and over 100 great-grandchildren. His first wife Dantzel died in February 2005. In April 2006, he married Wendy Watson.
The Latter Day Saint movement, founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s, has nearly 16 million members.
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