Elder Gene R. Cook, an emeritus General Authority Seventy, died on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, at his home in Lehi, Utah. He was 84.
Elder Cook served for more than 30 years as a general authority. He served in the Presidency of the Seventy from 1975 to 1976, presided over the Uruguay-Paraguay Mission from 1976 to 1977 and served in numerous other Church departments and assignments.
He determined at a young age that “it didn’t matter what I wanted, but it mattered what the Lord wanted,” he told the Church News in an interview at the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy.
At just 12 years old, Elder Cook gained a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon; as a teenager, he organized a scripture study group with other youth in his home town of Mesa, Arizona, so they could gain a similar testimony.
“We went through the Book of Mormon several times before I was called on my mission,” recalled Elder Cook, who served as a young adult in the Uruguay-Paraguay Mission from 1960-63.
“When you know it’s true, you desire to live it with all your heart, and you’ve just got to share it,” Elder Cook said of his love for sharing the gospel (“Elder Gene Raymond Cook,” Ensign, November 1975).
Gene Raymond Cook was born on Sept. 1, 1941, in Lehi, Utah. His parents, Clarence H. and Myrl Thornton Cook, taught him hard work and a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“My father was a very disciplined man, and he always wanted to go further than what was required of him,” Elder Cook recalled. “I learned a lot from him” (“Answers Are in Scriptures,” Church News, Oct. 18, 1975).
At age 11, Elder Cook began delivering newspapers to help pay for his own clothes. By the time he was 16, he was assistant manager of the newspaper’s circulation department.
After his mission, he married Janelle Schlink in the Mesa Arizona Temple on Nov. 29, 1963, and attended Arizona State University, where he earned a Master of Business Administration.
He was just 34 years old when he was called by Church President Spencer W. Kimball to the First Council of the Seventy in 1975. His four children were ages 7, 5, 3 and 2 years old at the time. A year later, members of the First Council of the Seventy were sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy. He and Sister Cook would add four more children to their family as Elder Cook accepted assignments to serve in Mexico, South America, Europe and elsewhere.
Despite a rigorous schedule, he “consistently carved out moments for deep, meaningful connections” with each of his eight children, his obituary says.
“I pay tribute to my grandparents, to my parents, especially to my wife, and to my children, in having made my home the best place in all the world. There’s no place in all the earth I would rather be than at home,” he said in an April 1984 general conference address.
Elder Cook spoke nine times in general conference. In addressing gatherings of Latter-day Saints, he often testified of a kind and loving Heavenly Father. Even on his darkest days, “I have felt the Lord reach out to me, felt the darkness disperse and felt His personal love fill my very soul. I bear witness that He is a God of love,” he said in a Brigham Young University devotional in February 2005.
He is survived by his wife, Janelle; their eight children: Troy (Renee Stubbs), Travis (Ashlee Ethington), Terrell (Cindy Bennion), Jenny (Brian Thueson), Holly (Scott Jensen), Jared (Allyson Rose), Jason (Sally Riskedahl), and Shelly (Taylor Jensen); numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and his siblings: Carol (Chuck Hiatt) and Harvey (Anne Stevens). He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother Ron (Marilyn Freeman).
A viewing will be held on Friday, Sept. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 13, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Lehi North Stake Center, located at 650 East 3200 in North Lehi, Utah.
Funeral services will take place on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m. at the Lehi North Stake Center. Interment will take place at the Lehi Cemetery.
