David Allan Bednar was born on June 15,1952, in northern California. He is now 55 years old and is 13th in seniority in the Quorum. While growing up, his mother was a Latter-day Saint and his father was Catholic. In high school, Elder Bednar played quarterback on the football team.
From 1971-73 he served as a missionary in Germany. He graduated with a Bachelors in Communications from BYU in 1976 and a Masters of Organizational Communication in 1977. He married Susan Kae Robinson in March 1975 in the Salt Lake Temple. He graduated with a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Purdue University in 1980. While he was a student at Purdue, he baptized his father into the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979.
The Bednars have 3 children, all sons. Elder Bednar was a faculty member at the University of Arkansas from 1980-1997 with 2 years spent at Texas Tech University. The Bednars were huge fans of the Razorbacks basketball team. He also received several awards for his outstanding teaching. Additionally, he served at different times as an associate dean at the Graduate School of Business and the director of the Management Decision-Making Lab at the University of Arkansas. He published several books and articles during this time period.
From 1997-2004, Elder Bednar was the president of BYU-Idaho. He led the transition of the school going from Ricks College to BYU-Idaho. In the Church, Elder Bednar has served as a Bishop, counselor in a Stake Presidency, twice as a Stake President, Regional Representative, and Area Authority Seventy. He was ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve on October 7, 2004, at the age of 52.
Update:
In April I had the chance to meet Elder Bednar. He spoke at my BYU graduation and I just happened to be in the right place to meet him before we had the processional. He was very nice and asked about me, my major, and plans. We also discussed his son, whom I had met previously. It was a great experience and the highlight of my graduation day. His eyes were pure and he is a true servant of God.
Sources: Official Background Information from the Church
Article in the Ensign about Elder Bednar.
Official BYU-I Biography.
Additionally, I took a class at BYU on the lives of the Apostles. I relied on some documents from that class.
You can check out Elder Bednar's published works here. You may have to buy them to read them.
