High-ranking Mormon church leader Russell Ballard remembered as examplar of the faith

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Associates and children of a top leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remembered him at a funeral Friday as a principled and compassionate man and exemplar of the faith. M. Russell Ballard was second-in-line to the church presidency as the second-longest-tenured member of a top governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He died Sunday at age 95. Quorum member Quentin Cook said at the funeral that no one taught church doctrine more forcefully or powerfully than Ballard over the last 50 years. Ballard is survived by seven children, 43 grandchildren, 105 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.