Elder R. Conrad Schultz, an emeritus General Authority Seventy, passed away on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in Eugene, Oregon. He was 88.
Elder Schultz served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy from 2001 to 2007. At the time he was called as a general authority, he and his wife, Sister Carolyn Lake Schultz, were serving as leaders of the Colorado Denver South Mission. The two later served as temple president and matron of the Portland Oregon Temple from 2007 to 2010.
Ralph Conrad Schultz Jr. was born in North Bend, Oregon, on March 11, 1938, to Ralph Conrad Schultz and Dorothy Bushong Schultz.
In high school, Elder Schultz became acquainted with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was invited by a Latter-day Saint friend to play on a Church basketball team. They won the region title and traveled to an all-Church tournament in Salt Lake City where he listened to talk by President Joseph Fielding Smith, then-president of the Quorum of the Twelve. “I couldn’t tell you to this day what he said, but I remember how it made me feel,” he recalled in a Church News article.
After taking the missionary discussions, he fasted for two days to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith had been a true prophet. As he knelt in his little attic bedroom to pray, he started to cry, said Elder Schultz. “I couldn’t even ask the questions; I knew the answers.”
He was baptized in January 1956. Besides his service as a general authority, mission president and temple president, Elder Schultz also served as a stake president, counselor in stake presidency, high councilor, bishop and counselor in mission presidency. “Whatever we can do to help is what we want to do,” he told the Church News of serving in the Church.
After being baptized, young Conrad became acquainted with a Latter-day Saint young woman named Carolyn Lake. “Soon they were quite an item,” says his obituary. They remained in contact as he attended two semesters at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and as he completed a full-time mission in the Gulf States, which included Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
He resumed a relationship with his high school sweetheart following his mission, despite being at different universities; he attended University of Oregon while she was at BYU. After she completed a nursing degree, they married on June 12, 1961, in the Salt Lake Temple.
Waiting all those years to be married was a challenge, Sister Schultz later recalled, but worth it. “You have to wait for the good things.”
Together, they have five children, 17 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Despite his demanding schedule as a lawyer and Church leader, “his children always felt that he put them first,” says his obituary.
Elder Schultz received a bachelor’s degree in political science and then a juris doctorate, both from the University of Oregon.
Elder and Sister Schultz lived most of their married lives in Eugene, where he practiced law and built his own law firm.
Having grown up on the Oregon Coast, Elder Schultz was an avid fisherman. In his only general conference address in April 2002, he spoke of being hit by an 8-foot sleeper wave while fishing in the ocean with some family members. Fortunately, all were wearing life jackets and no one was hurt.
He likened the sleeper wave to the deceptions of the adversary and wearing life jackets to obedience to the principles and commandments of God (“Faith Obedience,” April 2002 general conference).
“I witness to you that our Father in Heaven lives, that He loves us, and that by being unquestioningly obedient to His commandments, we can once again dwell with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer,” he testified.
Elder Schultz is survived by his wife of 65 years and his five children and their spouses: Stephen (Pamela); Susan Foutz (Harold); Scott (Mikell); Jared (Deeann); Sally Forsgren (Brad); and his 17 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Joyce Orr.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time, at the Latter-day Saint meetinghouse at 550 N. Danebo Ave. in Eugene, Oregon. There will be no public viewing.
