Gerrit W. Gong

Who is Gerrit W. Gong?

Gerrit Walter Gong has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2010. He is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Prior to this he served as Assistant to the President of Brigham Young University for Planning and Assessment.

Gong was born in Redwood City, California, to Walter Gong and Jean Char. Gerrit was named after Gerrit de Jong because his mother had lived with de Jong and his wife and children while a student at BYU. His mother's family were ethnic Chinese in Hawaii, while his father's family had lived in California and other parts of the United States after his ancestors had emigrated from China in the late 19th century.

Gong graduated from Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California in 1972. He served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Taiwan. He received a bachelor's degree from BYU and then was a Rhodes Scholar, receiving both his master's degree and D.Phil. from Oxford University. Gong was a professor at various times at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. He later served as a special assistant in the United States State Department as well as in the United States Embassy in China.