President Russell M. Nelson, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and one of the world’s most recognizable faith figures, died on Saturday at the age of 101. Church officials confirmed he passed peacefully at his Salt Lake City home. Nelson, who became the church’s 17th president in 2018, was the oldest leader in the faith’s nearly 200-year history.

Before stepping into international religious leadership, Nelson built a reputation as a groundbreaking heart surgeon. In 1955, he performed Utah’s first open-heart surgery and went on to complete more than 7,000 operations during his career. He also helped develop an early version of the heart-lung machine that made such surgeries possible.

Colleagues once described him as “a doctor with hands of precision and a heart of faith.” He served as president of the Utah State Medical Association, chaired cardiovascular surgery for the American Heart Association, and trained generations of surgeons before dedicating himself full-time to church service in the 1980s.

Called as a top church leader in 1984, Nelson assumed the presidency in January 2018 after the death of his predecessor, Thomas S. Monson.

In his seven years at the helm, Nelson pushed through sweeping reforms that reshaped how the church operated worldwide. He shortened Sunday meetings, changed missionary training policies, adjusted requirements for marriage ceremonies, launched a new youth program, and streamlined organizational structures.

Nelson also emphasized improving the church’s public face. He met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2019, forged partnerships with civil rights groups like the NAACP, and frequently urged members to build bridges across racial, political, and religious divides.

During his tenure, he traveled to more than 30 nations, often drawing tens of thousands to stadium-style gatherings.

Nelson was known as much for his family life as for his public role. He and his first wife, Dantzel, raised 10 children. After her death in 2005, he married Wendy Watson, a Canadian-born professor and therapist, who often joined him on international trips.

Fluent in multiple languages and a lifelong pianist, Nelson was admired by colleagues as approachable and soft-spoken despite the demands of his office. “He was the gentlest and sweetest person you could ever hope to associate with,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, his longtime colleague.

He is survived by his wife, eight of his children, 57 grandchildren, and more than 160 great-grandchildren.

Following tradition, senior leaders of the church’s governing council — known as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — will gather in the coming days to formally select Nelson’s successor. Funeral services will be held in Salt Lake City and broadcast worldwide.

Nelson’s tenure will be remembered for its pace of change, his global outreach, and his ability to balance a career in medicine with a life of faith and service.