A prophet who lived longer than any leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever had.
A child of Haitian immigrants who became the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress.
A movie star who made Utah his refuge from Hollywood, then invited storytellers here to workshop and showcase independent movies.
A fashion designer who celebrated his Pacific Islander culture and was killed during a protest in downtown Salt Lake City.
Those are four of the notable Utahns who died in 2025. We’ve compiled this list, alphabetically, of 108 people (and four animals) who either came from Utah or came to Utah and did things that made a mark on the state, the nation or the world.
They represent law enforcement and, in a couple of cases, the other side of the law. They appeared on our screens or airwaves, operated restaurants, ran companies, created works of art, treated the sick, led government and church entities, championed causes, influenced the young or inspired those around them.
(Miller Mobley | Bravo) Afa Ah Loo, a Samoan-born fashion designer living in Utah, shown here in 2018 when he appeared as a contestant on "Project Runway." Ah Loo died June 14, 2025, at age 39, shot on Salt Lake City's State Street at the "No Kings" protest march.
Arthur Folasa “Afa” Ah Loo • Born in Samoa, Ah Loo was an acclaimed fashion designer who celebrated his Pacific Islander heritage in his work. He appeared on “Project Runway” in 2018, founded the arts organization Creative Pacific, and created a custom outfit for star Auli’i Cravalho for the Hawaii premiere of “Moana 2” in November 2024. Ah Loo died June 14 at age 39, shot on Salt Lake City’s State Street during a “No Kings” protest march.
Jack Ashton • A violinist who played for the Utah Symphony for 49 years, Ashton was also a music educator — teaching for 35 years at Olympus High School, and working as an adjunct professor at Utah State University, Westminster College and Snow College. He founded the Young Artist Chamber Players, a youth orchestra program. Ashton died March 15 at age 86.
Kelsey Bateman • Bateman gained reality-show notice at 21 as a contestant on the third season of the dating series “Rock of Love” before settling down to life back home in Utah. Bateman died Aug. 25 at age 39.
David S. Baxter • A Scottish general authority Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2006 to August 2025, Baxter joined the church as a youth and battled brain cancer as an adult. He died Sept. 9 at age 70.
(Beecher family) Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, a trailblazer for women in the study of Latter-day Saint history, died Nov. 18, 2025, at age 90, in Ottawa, Canada.
Maureen Ursenbach Beecher • An early trailblazer among female historians of Mormonism, Beecher’s specialty was the life of Eliza R. Snow, the poet and preacher who was a plural wife to church founder Joseph Smith and his immediate successor, Brigham Young. Beecher’s studies on the early history of the Relief Society — the Latter-day Saint women’s organization — helped influence the society’s work 150 years later. Beecher died Nov. 18 at age 90 at her home in Ottawa, Canada.
Steve Benson • After attending Brigham Young University (his grandfather was Ezra Taft Benson, onetime president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and working as a cartoonist for Provo school’s Daily Universe, Benson in 1980 became the editorial cartoonist for The Arizona Republic — skewering politicians and sometimes Latter-day Saint leaders, and winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1993. He worked for The Republic until 2019, then moved to the Arizona Mirror until 2024, when he suffered a stroke. Benson died July 8 at age 71 of complications from that stroke.
Judith M. Billings • Billings was one of the original justices on the Utah Court of Appeals — and one of two women — when it was created in 1987. She served on that court until her retirement in 2008. Before that, she worked as a 3rd District judge from 1981 to 1986 and developed a reputation for helping other women who came up in the law after her. Billings died April 2 at age 82 in Salt Lake City.
Brent Blackburn • Blackburn, from Helper, was serving as a senior Latter-day Saint missionary with his wife, Carolyn, at the Adam-ondi-Ahman historic site near Gallatin, Missouri, where he was killed when the riding lawn mower he was operating overturned. Blackburn died Aug. 23 at age 68.
Bob Blair • An “unflappable” journalist, Blair worked for The Salt Lake Tribune from 1947 to his retirement in 1985 — as a general reporter, rewrite man, society-page editor and, for 10 years, editor of the editorial page. He was part of the team that covered a deadly midair collision over the Grand Canyon in 1956, work that earned The Tribune its first Pulitzer Prize. Blair died Jan. 20 at age 102 in Salt Lake City.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) John Paul Brophy, one of the owners of Salt Lake City's Dead Goat Saloon, inside the bar standing near autographed celebrity portraits in September 2003. Brophy, an influential curator for Utah's music scene, died April 28, 2025, at age 74.
John Paul Brophy • After stints as a concert reviewer for The Tribune and Salt Lake City Weekly in the early ‘90s, Brophy became an influential curator for Salt Lake City’s music community as the co-owner of The Dead Goat Saloon, a beloved downtown bar known as the home of Utah’s blues scene. Brophy died April 28 at age 74 from prostate cancer.
Bradford Brown • In 1993, Brown founded ATL Technology, a Springville-based designer and manufacturer of medical devices, and the BYU alum was the company’s CEO at the time of his death. Brown died Feb. 20 at age 59 in a helicopter crash in Ririe Reservoir, east of Idaho Falls.
Kevin Bruder • For 20 years, Bruder was president and CEO of the Utah Grizzlies, the state’s minor league hockey franchise. Since 1997, he also was general manager of the Grizzlies’ home arena, the Maverik Center (previously the E Center) in West Valley City. Bruder died May 12 at age 56.
Cynthia Buckingham • In a 35-year tenure at the Utah Humanities Council, 20 of them as executive director before her retirement in 2018, Buckingham is credited with launching the Utah Humanities Book Festival and organizing Utah’s participation in the Smithsonian’s “Museum on Main Street” program. Buckingham died Oct. 8 at age 74.
Elise Smith Caffee • A popular travel vlogger based in Salt Lake City, Caffe hosted “3 Kids Travel,” where she wrote that “traveling became our way to connect and bond as a family.” Caffee died March 12 at age 45 at the University of Utah Hospital after severe burns suffered six days earlier in a traffic accident. In October, a children’s travel book she wrote with her friend and business partner, Tiffany Rosenhan, “Pippa and Poppy’s European Adventure,” was released.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tad Callister, an emeritus general authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks at the Davis County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner in Layton in 2024. Callister died Oct. 9, 2025, at age 79 in Bountiful.
Ted Callister • A former tax lawyer in Los Angeles, Callister was an emeritus Latter-day Saint general authority Seventy and became influential for his writings on Jesus’ Atonement for the sins of humanity. He drew controversy for a 2013 speech in which he said women should dress modestly to preserve “the moral purity of men.” Callister died Oct. 9 at age 79 in Bountiful.
Ramón Cardenas Sr. • “Don Ramón” Cardenas and his wife, Maria, started a four-table Mexican restaurant on Salt Lake City’s west side in 1985 called the Red Iguana. After a fire in 1986, they relocated to the restaurant’s current main location on North Temple — where its authentic dishes and mole sauces became popular with locals and touring musicians alike. Cardenas died Sept. 27 at age 92.
Gregory Castle • The British-born cat-loving Castle was a co-founder of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the Kanab-based shelter that has championed the no-kill movement, and served as the nonprofit’s CEO from 2009 to 2018. Castle died May 17 at age 83.
Dennis Chin • Chin and his wife, Rose, owned and operated Chin-Wah, a popular Chinese restaurant in Sandy, known for its Phoenix Chicken. They opened the restaurant in 1990; it closed in 2023. Chin died Jan. 2 at age 75.
John Colosimo • Inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 2023, Colosimo coached Judge Memorial High School’s football program from 1985 to 1996 and led the team at Juan Diego High School from 1999 to 2020 — coaching the Soaring Eagles to a record-tying eight state championships. Colosimo died July 9 at age 69 of complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Gene R. Cook • A Latter-day Saint general authority Seventy for more than three decades, Cook saw his church service take him and his family to Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Germany and Atlanta. He died Sept. 8 at age 84.
Rick Davis • Hired in 1984 as the first president and CEO of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau (now Visit Salt Lake), Davis was a champion of Salt Lake City’s Winter Olympics bid until a stroke in December 2000 forced him to retire the following June. The stroke left him unable to swallow, and he became president of The Oley Foundation, which advocates for people who use home IV nutrition and tube feeding. Davis died Feb. 10 at age 81 in Fernandina Beach, Florida, from cancer.
Lyman Dayton • The Salt Lake City-born filmmaker produced two well-known family films in the mid-1970s, “Where the Red Fern Grows” and “Against a Crooked Sky,” then directed several Utah-made films, including “Baker’s Hawk” (1976), “Last Resort” (1996) and a 2003 remake of “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Dayton died July 25 at age 83 in Draper.
Ashby Decker • An executive at Portland Cement Co. who negotiated its merger with a bigger company, Decker was once president of the Salt Lake Chamber — as well a noted arts patron, usually on the arm of his wife of 65 years, actor Anne Cullimore Decker. Ashby Decker died March 7 at age 91.
Diego • A male California sea lion, Diego had been a crowd favorite at Utah’s Hogle Zoo since his arrival in 2017. Diego was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in 2024; on Oct. 20, zookeepers noticed a sudden decrease in his appetite and behavior. Diego died Oct. 22 after being humanely euthanized. The zoo did not release his age.
John Dwan • Dwan was the spokesperson for University of Utah Hospital for 25 years, becoming the hospital’s public face to the world in 1983, when retired dentist Barney Clark received the first permanent artificial heart, which kept him alive for 112 days. Dawn died Jan. 27 at age 87.
(Salt Lake Tribune archives) A booking photo of Ronald Dale Easthope, the so-called "Sugar House rapist," in 1971. Easthope, who spent more than 52 years in prison before a "compassionate release" to a care facility in December 2024, died April 25, 2025, at age 79.
Ronald Dale Easthope • After a string of sexual assaults in Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood in 1970 and 1971, Easthope — dubbed “the Sugar House rapist” — was arrested and later convicted in two of the cases. He was paroled in 1981 and within two months raped a 17-year-old girl. He returned to prison with a life sentence, but received a “compassionate release” in December 2024. Easthope died April 25 at age 79 in a care facility.
Randy Elison • Under the name Randy Rose, Elison was a frequent fixture on the radio dial for 50 years in Utah, Idaho and California — with stints at Utah radio stations KISN, KBER, Jack FM and KODJ. Elison died May 22 at age 70 from leukemia.
Eric Estrada • Estrada joined the Tremonton-Garland Police Department as an officer in early 2025, and had been in law enforcement since 2017 — serving with the Logan Police, Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office and North Park Police. He was a member of the Tremonton police’s community outreach team. Estrada died Aug. 17 at age 31, shot while responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Harmon Eyre • A Salt Lake City physician whose expertise was in hematology and oncology, Eyre was the chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society from 1993 to his retirement in 2008. In that role, he built one of the world’s leading cancer control and surveillance programs, making observations about populations that influenced health policy. Eyre died May 31 at age 84 in Salt Lake City.
(Drew Pearson | Ballet West) Cindy Farrimond, longtime costume shop manager for Ballet West, died Dec. 3, 2025, at age 66.
Cindy Farrimond • As costume shop manager for Ballet West, Farrimond was a creative force behind thousands of costumes dancers wore on the Capitol Theatre stage for four decades. Farrimond died Dec. 3, two days before the start of Ballet West’s annual production of “The Nutcracker,” at age 66.
Franklin T. Ferguson • A founding partner of the Salt Lake City architecture firm FFKR, Ferguson led the design on such buildings as Abravanel Hall (where Ferguson’s green sweater inspired the hall’s color scheme), the Hemingway Orangerie at Red Butte Garden and BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. Ferguson died June 15 at age 89.
Jeff Foott • A seasoned mountain climber (he’s credited with making the first one-day ascent of the northwest face of Yosemite’s Half Dome), Foott was a nature photographer and cinematographer whose work was used by National Geographic, ABC Sports and the BBC. He also advocated for the environment in Wyoming and Utah. Foott died Dec. 3 at age 82 from a rare form of leukemia.
Jack Ford • As a reporter for KSL-TV from 1963 to 1992, Ford covered such infamous killers as Ted Bundy and Mark Hofmann. After leaving journalism, he worked for 16 years as the spokesperson for the Utah Department of Corrections. Ford died Oct. 17 at age 83.
Anthony Geary • The Emmy-winning actor, born in Coalville and trained at the University of Utah, became a sensation in 1979 as Luke Spencer, a hitman-turned hero on the soap opera “General Hospital” — a character who raped and later romanced Genie Francis’s Laura Webber Baldwin, making “Luke & Laura” one of TV’s most iconic couples. Geary died Dec. 14 at age 78 in the Netherlands of complications from surgery three days earlier.
Higinio “Quino” Gonzalez • The Chilean-born backcountry ski guide was a familiar sight in the Cottonwood canyons, working nearly 20 years for Utah Mountain Adventures. He also was a seasoned mountaineer, who led an American expedition up the 24,000-foot peak Gasherbrum I (on the China/Pakistan border) and climbed Alaska’s Denali, aka Mount McKinley, 11 times. Gonzalez died Feb. 8 at age 60 from trauma suffered in an avalanche in the Silver Fork area of Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Gordon R. Hall • The chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1981 to 1993, Hall is credited with championing constitutional reforms that ensured an independent Utah judiciary. The courthouse in Tooele is named for Hall, the only judge in Utah to receive such an honor. Hall died June 1 at age 98.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Elaine Hatch receives a flower from her 8-year-old granddaughter, Scout Hoffman, at the interment of her husband, Orrin Hatch, at the Newton Cemetery, in 2022. Elaine Hatch died May 10, 2025, at age 91.
Elaine Hanson Hatch • Elaine Hanson was a schoolteacher in 1957 when she married Orrin Hatch, whom she met when they were students at BYU. They were married 64 years until his death in 2022 — including during his 42 years representing Utah in the U.S. Senate. Elaine Hatch died May 10 at age 91.
Ren Hatt • A teacher at Green River High School, Hatt was elected mayor of Green River in 2021 and reelected in 2025. Hatt died Dec. 5 at age 40 when a semitrailer truck crashed into his car on U.S. Highway 6.
Ron Haun • Haun was head football coach at Dixie State College (now Utah Tech University) from 2006 to 2009, as the program moved from junior college status to Division II. Before that, he was head coach for 19 years at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho), from 1982 until the school disbanded its football program in 2001, earning three conference titles and eight league championships. Haun died May 2 at age 82 in St. George after a battle with brain cancer.
Phil Hermansen • As art director and graphic designer for the Utah Shakespeare Festival from 1995 to 2017, Hermansen established the “look” of the festival’s programs, posters and advertising for more than two decades. Hermansen died Feb. 15 at age 67 in St. George.
Jeffrey R. Holland• Known for his gift with language and his gentle demeanor, Holland was president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and next in line to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was an apostle for three decades and president of Brigham Young University during the 1980s. Holland died Dec. 27 at age 85 from complications from kidney disease.
Elaine Jack • The Canadian-born Jack was the 12th president of the Latter-day Saint Relief Society, leading the church’s women’s group from 1990 to 1997. During her term, one historian said, she and her counselors “led the church forward in mediating the gulf between women working at home and in the world.” Jack died June 10 at age 97, the second of three former Relief Society presidents to die within a six-month span.
(Forrest Anderson |AP) Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, Jarvik-7, holds up a model like the one implanted in Barney Clark in Salt Lake City, on Dec. 3, 1982. Jarvik died May 26, 2025, at age 79, at his home in Manhattan.
Robert Jarvik • A doctor and an inventor, Jarvik graduated from the University of Utah’s medical school in 1976 and started work on building an artificial heart. One of his designs, the plastic-and-aluminum Jarvik-7, was implanted into retired Seattle dentist Barney Clark on Dec. 2, 1982, at the U. Hospital. Clark survived on Jarvik’s invention for 112 days. The device was later used as a temporary bridge for patients waiting for a heart transplant. Jarvik died May 26 at age 79 at his home in Manhattan.
Chris Jones • As director of the University of Utah’s Sleep Wake Center for more than two decades, Jones led groundbreaking research into the effects of genetics on people’s sleep cycles. Jones died Sept. 27 at age 74 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Paula Julander • A nurse for 45 years, Julander represented Salt Lake City as a Democrat in the Utah House from 1989 to 1992, then in the state Senate from 1999 to 2005. Julander died Aug. 25 at age 86.
Shireen Khazeni • After fleeing Tehran during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Khazeni and her family settled in Utah, where she became a respected historian and author specializing in 19th-century Iran. She and her husband, architect Reza Khazeni, also established a summer fellowship in environmental law at the University of Utah’s law school in honor of their son, Reza Ali Khazeni. Shireen Khazeni died April 8 at age 87 in Salt Lake City.
Kiaria • The female Chinese red panda debuted at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in March, arriving from Toledo, Ohio, to be paired with the zoo’s 2-year-old male red panda, William, as part of a breeding recommendation. Kiaria died Aug. 14 at age 8 after suffering gastrointestinal issues.
K9 Ranger • A K9 officer with Woods Cross police for a decade, Ranger covered more than 173 miles while tracking wanted or missing people, helping locate 83 wanted people and finding six missing children — while assisting more than 30 law enforcement agencies in the region in his 10 years of service before retiring. Ranger died Oct. 23; his age was not disclosed.
Susan Koehn • Koehn, a Republican, represented Woods Cross in the Utah Legislature from 1995 to 2001, with a focus on issues affecting special-needs children. After leaving the Legislature, she worked as a lobbyist and trained other women running for office. Koehn died Jan. 9 at age 63 after a long battle with cancer.
(Loveland Living Planet Aquarium) Koshi, a 10-year-old male clouded leopard, died at the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, the aquarium announced on social media on Saturday, February 15.
Koshi • A clouded leopard, Koshi had lived at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper for nearly nine years, along with his companion, Rhu. Koshi died Feb. 14 at age 10, shortly after being diagnosed with sudden-onset diabetes.
Marie Kotter • In a 40-year career at Weber State University, Kotter in 1986 became the first female vice president at a four-year college in Utah. Among her accomplishments was spearheading the creation of Weber State’s first student services center. Kotter died June 12 at age 78 in Pleasant View.
David Kranes • The prolific Utah playwright and author wrote more than 40 plays, eight novels and three collections of short stories. He also was a professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah, a dramaturg and mentor for Salt Lake Acting Company, and the founding artistic director of the Sundance Institute’s Playwrights Lab. Kranes died Dec. 16 at age 87 in Salt Lake City.
Joe Lake • As co-founder of the Salt Lake City-based Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Lake was involved in the telethons that aired on KSL for decades — and in fundraising efforts that brought $9 billion to 170 children’s hospitals nationwide through the years. Lake died April 4 at age 82 in his Cottonwood Heights home.
Aleki Langi • Hailing from Magna, Langi was serving his Latter-day Saint mission in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was hit by a car that jumped the curb. Langi died May 1 at age 18.
(Salt Lake Tribune file photo) Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden, right, and star forward Karl Malone on a float for the Days of '47 Parade in 1985. Layden, an icon of Utah basketball, died July 8, 2025, at age 93.
Frank Layden • A Utah icon who ranked living well over basketball, Layden was general manager of the New Orleans Jazz when the team moved to Salt Lake City, and was the team’s boisterous head coach from 1981 to 1988 — a reign in which he drafted both John Stockton and Karl Malone, and was named NBA coach of the year in 1984. Layden came out of retirement to coach the WNBA’s Utah Starzz (now the Las Vegas Aces) from 1998 to 1999. Layden died July 9 at age 93. Frank’s wife of 68 years, Barbara Layden, died Christmas Day at age 92.
Mimi Levitt • Levitt was the public face of the Alta Lodge, owned by her husband, Bill, and was the longtime president of Friends of Alta, a group she founded with Bill and attorney Pat Shea that advocates for the preservation and environmental health of the Utah ski town. Levitt died July 22 at age 82.
Mia Love • A child of Haitian immigrants, Love represented Utah’s 4th District from 2015 to 2019 — the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress. Before that, she was a Saratoga Springs City Council member and then the city’s mayor. Love died March 23 at age 49 after a three-year battle with brain cancer.
George Mantes • Mantes, who owned a Chevrolet dealership in Tooele, served in the Utah Senate from 1991 to 1998 — including time as the Democratic whip — then sat on the state’s Board of Regents. Mantes died May 30 at age 87.
(GoFundMe) Shay Wright and Tanner Martin hold their newborn daughter, Amy Lou. Martin, who chronicled his battle with cancer and Shay's pregnancy for thousands of social-media followers, died June 25, 2025, at age 30.
Tanner Martin • Diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in November 2020, Martin and his wife, Shay Wright, chronicled their cancer journey — along with Wright’s pregnancy via in vitro fertilization and the birth of their daughter, AmyLou, on May 15 — for hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. They also started a nonprofit, Rebels Against Cancer. Tanner Martin died June 25 at age 30; the couple made the announcement with a prerecorded message in which Martin opened with, “if you’re watching this, I am dead.”
Paul Maurer • Maurer opened the first Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise in Utah, in Holladay in the mid-1980s, as well as later franchises in Taylorsville and Salt Lake City — and the company called him franchise “royalty,” In the early 2000s, he founded Avenues Bakery and Bistro. Maurer died March 30 at age 79 from complications related to chondrosarcoma.
Deng Mayar • Born in Egypt of South Sudanese heritage, Mayar grew up in Salt Lake City and played basketball for Judge Memorial High School. In college, he played two years for the University of North Dakota before transferring to the University of Nebraska Omaha. Mayar died Aug. 16 at age 22, drowning while swimming at Blackridge Reservoir in Herriman.
Jeffrey Meldrum • A Salt Lake City native who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology from BYU, Meldrum became an expert in the ways primates walk — which led him to become the leading academic authority to vouch for the existence of Bigfoot. Meldrum died Sept. 8 at age 67 in Pocatello, Idaho.
Ralph Menzies • After spending 37 years on Utah’s death row for kidnapping and killing 26-year-old mother Maurine Hunsaker in 1986, Menzies was scheduled to be executed by firing squad in September. Just days before the execution date, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Menzies needed further evaluation for his vascular dementia to see if he was competent and could legally be executed. (A hearing on his latest evaluation had been scheduled for December.) Menzies died Nov. 26 at age 67 of natural causes in a Salt Lake City-area hospital.
Lauren Miller • An executive assistant with Shed Media, the company that produces the “Real Housewives” franchise, Miller worked on the Salt Lake City and New York versions of the show. Miller died June 9 at age 43, moments after giving birth to her son, Jackson. (Miller and her husband, Kevin, also have a 3-year-old daughter, Emma.)
Don Mischer • In a five-decade career of shepherding live TV events — including Oscar and Emmy ceremonies, directing four Super Bowl halftime shows and producing the Motown anniversary special in which Michael Jackson introduced the “moonwalk” — Mischer also produced the Opening Ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Mischer died April 11 at age 85 in Los Angeles.
(Jay Leaf) Legendary DJ "Skinny" Johnny Mitchell died Jan 1. at age 82.
“Skinny” Johnny Mitchell • Through much of the 1970s and ‘80s, Mitchell was the evening host on several Salt Lake City radio stations, most famously at KCPX — where he entertained listeners with a nightly “battle of the records” and recorded comedy bits. Mitchell died Jan. 1 at age 82.
Michael Moonbird • In 1997, Moonbird and his partner-in-life, Victoria Lyons, launched Bad Dog Arts, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit that provides space for children to learn how to create art. Together, they also created public art, such as the porcelain tile mural outside the Salt Lake City Library’s Glendale branch. Moonbird died June 1 at age 75.
David Mull • A prominent attorney in Utah, Mull worked the past five years for the city attorney’s office in Salt Lake City, specializing in civil rights and open records law. Mull died July 19 at age 49, falling 700 feet in a rockslide near Bells Canyon in Little Cottonwood Canyon, returning from a hike to the peak of Pfeifferhorn.
Paul Nelson • Familiar as a Utah broadcast journalist, Nelson reported for KSL NewsRadio from 2004 to 2022 and for KUTV, Channel 2, for the past two years. Nelson died Oct. 14 at age 51 from pancreatic cancer.
Russell M. Nelson • The oldest Latter-day Saint president and prophet in history, Nelson — a former heart surgeon — championed peacemaking, reversed the church’s controversial stand that labeled LGBTQ+ members “apostates,” essentially barred the use of the terms “Mormon” and “LDS,” and oversaw the building of 200 temples worldwide. Nelson died Sept. 27 at age 101 at home in Salt Lake City.
Merrill Oaks • An ophthalmologist who was among the first in Utah to perform cataract surgeries in which an artificial lens was implanted, Oaks became a Latter-day Saint general authority in 1998. (His older brother, Dallin H. Oaks, was selected as the church’s president and prophet in October, after the death of Russell M. Nelson.) Merrill Oaks died Dec. 30, 2024, at age 88 after a chronic illness; his death was not reported until the new year.
Jose Maria Oliviera • Called “the unknown giant of Latter-day Saint cinema,” Oliviera’s arthouse horror movies in the 1970s were critically acclaimed in his native Spain, and he worked to spread his Latter-day Saint faith across that country. Oliviera died Sept. 5 at age 91 at his home in Salt Lake City.
Eugene Orr • Orr moved to Utah in 1968 and converted to the Latter-day Saint faith, later co-founding Genesis Group, a support congregation for Black Latter-day Saints. Orr died Sept. 22 at age 79 in Alberta, Canada.
Wayne Osmond • The fourth oldest of the Utah-born Osmond siblings, and second oldest of the singing members, Wayne Osmond joined his brothers in performing — starting in the 1960s at Disneyland and “The Andy Williams Show” — bringing bubblegum pop and Utah wholesomeness to the world. Wayne Osmond died Jan. 1 at age 73 in a Salt Lake City hospital, from what his brother Merrill said was “a massive stroke.”
(The Times-Independent) Lin Ottinger shares his life story during a Moab Museum event in 2019. Ottinger, a legend in Moab tourism and discoverer of several dinosaur species, died Feb. 12, 2025, at age 97.
Lin Ottinger • Known as the “Dinosaur Man” and a legend in Moab tourism, Ottinger founded the Moab Rock Shop, a store/museum that has drawn tourists and rock enthusiasts for decades. He also discovered four dinosaur species, including the iguanodon ottingeri, which was named for him. Ottinger died Feb. 12 at age 97.
Bonnie D. Parkin • Parkin was the 14th president of the Latter-day Saint Relief Society, leading the church’s women’s group from 2002 to 2007. During her term, she worked with Susan W. Tanner, the general president of the church’s Young Women organization, to begin monthly opening exercises for the two groups. Parkin died July 28 at age 84, the third former Relief Society president to die in six months.
Sandy Peck • Peck was executive director of the Salt Lake League of Women Voters through the ‘90s and the early 2000s, serving as a watchdog for democracy, public involvement and government transparency. Peck died Jan. 7 at age 90 in Pullman, Washington.
Louise Plummer • The Dutch-born, Salt Lake City-raised Plummer wrote several acclaimed books, notably the young adult novels “The Romantic Obsessions and Humiliations of Annie Sehlmeier and “My Name Is Sus5an Smith, the 5 Is Silent." She also taught writing for decades at BYU, including a memoir class she ran with her husband, Tom Plummer (who died in 2023). Louise Plummer died March 20 at age 82.
Robert Redford • As a young actor, the California-born Redford bought a 2-acre parcel in Provo Canyon and built a family cabin. Later, he bought a nearby ski resort and renamed it Sundance, after his career-defining movie role — then proceeded to put Utah on Hollywood’s mind, developing talent through his nonprofit Sundance Institute and growing the Sundance Film Festival into America’s premier movie event. The Oscar-winning director was also an environmental advocate, focusing on Utah land and water issues. Redford died Sept. 16 at age 89 at home in Provo Canyon.
Micheal Repp • A fixture in Utah’s LGBTQ+ community, Repp for years operated one of Salt Lake City’s best-known gay bars, The SunTrapp — and when an ownership dispute forced him out in 2022, he opened another bar, Club Verse. Repp died Sept. 6 at age 51 from cancer.
(Salt Lake Tribune file photo) Former Tribune features and lifestyle editor Barbi Robison in an undated photo. Robison died June 2, 2025, at age 91.
Barbi Robison • A longtime Tribune reporter and editor, Robison transformed what was once called “the women’s pages” into the paper’s lifestyle section, leading a team of journalists who went beyond the standard coverage of crime, courts and politics to find stories where people lived. Robison died June 2 at age 91 in a Salt Lake City care facility.
Tammie Rosen • A pillar in the independent film world, Rosen was chief communications officer for the Sundance Institute starting in 2020, leading the publicity team that told the story of the arts nonprofit and its programs — primarily the Sundance Film Festival — through the COVID-19 pandemic and the festival’s planned move to Colorado in 2027. Rosen stepped away from Sundance in May, when she announced she was battling cancer. Rosen died Dec. 3 at age 49.
Rolf Sandberg • A contractor who built many homes in the Park City and Heber areas, the Norwegian-born Sandberg was equally known for the figure he cut on the slopes on the Wasatch Back, with colorful ski outfits and white hair that earned him the nickname “The Silver Fox.” Sandberg died April 10 at age 89 in Pleasant Grove.
Gilberto Schaefer • The Swiss-born graphic artist designed the sets and visual elements for KUTV’s news division in the early 1970s, and was hired by Robert Redford to design the early visual identity for the Sundance Institute — including the posters for the United States Film Festival in 1985 and 1986, when the institute took over the Park City-based event. Schaefer died Oct. 31 at age 78.
Dave Scott • While attending Weber State University on a basketball scholarship, Scott was dancing at a Utah club when he was discovered by a manager for hip-hop star Rob Base. That led to a career as a dancer, and as a choreographer on the reality-competition show “So You Think You Can Dance” and such movies as “You Got Served” and “Step Up 2: The Streets.” Scott died June 16 at age 52 in Las Vegas.
James Scott • An expert in obstetrics, Scott served as professor and chair of the University of Utah medical school’s department of obstetrics and gynecology from 1976 to 1994 and remained on the faculty until his retirement in 2015. Scott died April 7 at age 87 in Iowa City, Iowa, where he moved after retirement.
(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Historian Jan Shipps, shown here in 2007, was the leading scholar of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and the first woman and first non-member of the faith to be president of the Mormon History Association. Shipps died April 14, 2025, at age 95.
Jan Shipps • A lifelong Methodist born in Alabama and based in Indiana, Shipps was a preeminent scholar of Mormon history and the first historian to apply the principles of religious studies to the faith. She was the first woman, and the first person outside the faith, to be president of the Mormon History Association. Shipps died April 14 at age 95.
Jake Shoff • The 6-foot-9 Shoff played basketball for BYU from 2002 to ’04, helping the Cougars make back-to-back appearances in the NCAA tournament. Shoff died Feb. 6 at age 46 in an automobile accident.
Verlaine Showell • A longtime math professor at Salt Lake Community College, Showell was a founding member of the Utah Women’s Math Science Network, a nonprofit that advocated for gender equality in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Showell died Oct. 8 at age 83 in Salt Lake City.
Netty Slaughter • A woman with a small frame and a big heart, Slaughter (born Lynette Childs) was a fixture in Salt Lake City’s underground music scene as the greeter and door bouncer at the now-departed Burt’s Tiki Lounge on State Street — famous for her customized bar stool, which was equipped with a seat belt. Slaughter died Oct. 25 at age 54 from cancer.
Mary Ellen Wood Smoot • The 13th general president of the Latter-day Saint Relief Society, Smoot led the women’s organization from 1997 to 2002. Among the society’s accomplishments during her tenure: Collecting 350,000 quilts in 1999, of which 30,000 were sent to Kosovo refugees. Smoot died Feb. 10 at age 91 in Centerville. She was the first of three former Relief Society presidents to die in a six-month period.
Lee Sorensen • A member of the Tremonton-Garland Police Department for 16 years before the two cities combined their police forces, Sorensen received a distinguished service award in February for his support of firefighters and EMT units. Sorensen, a Garland native, died Aug. 17 at age 56, shot while responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Linda Staker • In 1991, at age 23, Staker opened Confetti, a 16-and-up dance club in east Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood that became a refuge for Utah’s goth subculture until its demolition in 2002 (to make way for a Walgreens). Staker died Nov. 4 at age 58 from complications after a stroke.
Gerald Stringfellow • The Salt Lake City-born Stringfellow did research at Hewlett-Packard to develop multicolored light-emitting diodes, LEDs, now used in everything from traffic lights to digital displays. He returned to Utah to teach materials science and engineering at the University of Utah in 1980 and from 1998 to 2003 was dean of the U.’s College of Engineering. Stringfellow died Oct. 3 at age 83.
Lynne Taylor-Corbett • A choreographer whose work was featured in Broadway musicals and commissioned by the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, Taylor-Corbett helped put Utah on the movie map by designing Kevin Bacon’s dance moves for the 1984 movie “Footloose,” which was filmed in Utah County. Taylor-Corbett died Jan. 12 at age 78 on Long Island, New York, from breast cancer.
(Chris Detrick | Salt Lake Tribune) Alice Telford rides her bike in Salt Lake City's Memory Grove in 2006. Telford, co-founder of the Little Red women's bike ride in Cache Valley, died Jan. 27, 2025, at age 101.
Alice Telford • Telford, an avid cyclist, co-founded the Little Red women’s bike ride in 1989. The event has grown over the years, racing through the Cache Valley every June, now attracting some 3,500 riders from across the country and raising money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Telford also established several endowments at the University of Utah to support student scholarships and sold off paintings by her uncle, landscape painter LeConte Stewart, to pay for them. Telford died Jan. 27 at age 101.
Domingo Toledo • In his 40-year teaching career in the University of Utah’s math department, the Puerto Rico-born Toledo was recognized as an expert in complex and algebraic geometry. Toledo died Aug. 7 at age 80 at home.
Jeffrey S. Tolk • In a three-decade career in finance, Tolk worked in international banking, asset management and direct investment. Tolk also was the husband of Astrid S. Tuminez, president of Utah Valley University. Tolk died Feb. 4 at age 61.
(Pool) Deserae Turner, who was shot in the head in 2017 and survived for eight years with chronic disabilities, died April 17, 2025, in hospice in the Cache Valley. She was 22.
Deserae Turner • Turner was 14 years old on Feb. 1, 2017, when two teen boys lured her to a canal in Smithfield and shot her in the head. She survived but dealt with eight years of medical treatments and chronic disabilities. She graduated from Green Canyon High School and was named homecoming queen, served a Latter-day Saint mission, married and was a symbol of resilience to her Cache Valley neighbors. Turner died April 17 at age 22, a week after declaring that she would “let my body go” and enter hospice care.
Thelma Uriarte • A Park City resident for a century, Uriarte operated the Pop Jenks Confectionary and Pop Jenks Diner in the 1950s, then, in 1962, opened Red Banjo Pizza, the oldest still-operating restaurant in Park City. Uriarte also was for a time a co-owner of Park City’s Egyptian Theatre. Uriarte died March 9 at age 101.
Wendy Wagner • As a cross-country skier, the Salt Lake City-born Wagner competed in the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics. She went on to a career as an avalanche forecaster for the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska. Wagner died Nov. 6 at age 52 in Park City.
Mark Van Wagoner • Over a 30-year radio career, Van Wagoner was known as “Mark in the Morning” — most notably from 1976 to 1988 on KSL-AM, where he had a highly rated show until he moved to the FM dial at “Magic 107.5.” Van Wagoner died Jan. 8 at age 72.
Nikki Walker • A public relations expert and a force for equality and justice, Walker led community engagement for the Utah companies Domo and Young Living Essential Oils — and served on boards for Encircle, KUED, The Children’s Center and the Utah Black Chamber. Walker died June 25 at age 48.
Lucy Peterson Watkins • A fiber artist who lived in North Logan, Watkins was known for creating city views and landscapes from silk, ink and quilting for texture. She and her husband, Cary, founded Art on the Lawn, a miniature art festival they ran from 2004 to 2016. Watkins died Feb. 12 at age 75.
(Salt Lake Tribune file photo) Tom Wharton, shown here in 2005, covered sports and the outdoors for The Salt Lake Tribune over a 45-year career. Wharton died May 8, 2025, at age 74.
Tom Wharton • In a 45-year career at The Tribune, Wharton covered sports — including a half-century streak of covering at least one prep sports game a year — and the outdoors, applying his deep knowledge of and affection for every inch of Utah. Wharton and his first wife, Gayen (who died in 2004), also wrote several guidebooks. Wharton died May 8 at age 74 at a Millcreek care facility.
Jeff Whiteley • An adept guitarist — he and his wife, Lori, formed the core of the acoustic ensemble Lark & Spur — Whiteley founded the Excellence in the Community concert series, which has mounted more than 1,400 free shows featuring various genres of Utah musicians at Salt Lake City’s Gallivan Center and other venues. Whiteley died Sept. 25, at age 71, while on a hike.
(Danny La | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lynne Whitesides at her home in Salt Lake City in 1998. Whitesides, one of the "September Six" scholars who were disciplined by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1993 for writings that criticized doctrine or leadership, died July 7, 2025, at age 73.
Lynne Whitesides • A Latter-day Saint feminist and a member of the “September Six” — a group of scholars disciplined in September 1993 for writing criticisms of church doctrine or leadership — Whitesides was the first to be punished, and the only one to be disfellowshipped instead of being excommunicated. In her later years, she studied Native American ceremonies and became a life coach. Whitesides died July 7 at age 73 from pneumonia and leukemia.
Chuck Whyte • Hailed as a unifying force for Utah’s LGBTQ+ community, Whyte founded and produced Utah’s “Unity Show,” a series of events in the 1980s and ‘90s that served as a launchpad for the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah — which evolved into the Utah Pride Center. Whyte died Aug. 3 at age 67.
David Winder • Winder was put in charge of the Utah Department of Economic Development in 1997 and founded the Utah Sports Commission ahead of the arrival of the world for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Winder died May 4 at age 86 after battling Alzheimer’s.
Harold Wolf • As dean of the University of Utah’s College of Pharmacy from 1976 to 1989 and a teaching professor, Wolf mentored a generation of pharmacists. The college’s Wolf Prize is named for him and his wife, Joan. The Wolfs also established the Meritus Scholarships through University Neighborhood Partners for Salt Lake City high school students. Wolf died Jan. 22 at age 95.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ronald Wopsock, a member of the Uintah Band of the Ute Indian Tribe and a longtime tribal leader, died April 8, 2025, at age 72.
Ronald Wopsock • A longtime leader of the Ute Indian Tribe, Wopsock is credited with building up the relationship between the tribe and the University of Utah and helping create the agreement that allows the U. to use the Ute name for its athletic teams in exchange for scholarships for tribal members. Wopsock, a member of the Uintah Band of the tribe, died April 8 at age 72.