SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Russell M. Nelson, the 17th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away at 101 years old on Saturday, Church officials confirmed. His life was dedicated to faith, medicine, and service.

Nelson was internationally renowned as a surgeon and medical researcher, having earned his medical degree from the University of Utah at age 22. He was a pioneering heart surgeon, taking part in the development of the heart-lung machine and performing the first open-heart surgery in Utah in 1955.

He served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery, a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery for the American Heart Association and president of the Utah State Medical Association. He also

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