W. Mark Bassett, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died suddenly on May 11 while with his family in St. George, Utah. He was 59.
The Church said Bassett died as a result of a traumatic brain injury. In a statement, it said he would be “deeply missed and always remembered” for his faith and dedicated service to Jesus Christ, and added that its “love and prayers” are with his wife, Angela, their children and grandchildren.
Bassett was serving as executive director of the Missionary Department at the time of his death. He had been called as a General Authority Seventy in April 2016, a full-time church leadership role that takes leaders around the world to teach the gospel, support local church officials and help guide missionary work, humanitarian aid, temple building, family history and other efforts.
Born Aug. 14, 1966, in Carmichael, California, Bassett earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University in 1991. He spent his professional life in the wholesale auto auction industry, where he worked as chief financial officer and owner of West Coast Auto Auctions, Inc., a company that operated in California, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
He married Angela in 1989, and they had five children. General Authority Seventies are called by the First Presidency and typically serve until age 70, when they are released and granted emeritus status. Bassett’s death leaves a leadership vacancy in one of the church’s most visible full-time assignments, and it brings an abrupt end to a public ministry that had been tied to missionary work in the Brazil, North America Northeast and North America Southeast areas.
His death is now likely to be felt most immediately by the family he leaves behind and by the missionary department he was helping lead. The church has not said when any memorial or succession announcements will be made.
