F. Melvin Hammond

Who is F. Melvin Hammond?

Floyd Melvin Hammond was an Idaho politician and has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989. He was the nineteenth general president of the church's Young Men organization from 2001 to 2004.

Hammond was born in Blackfoot, Idaho. He served as an LDS Church missionary in the Spanish–American Mission from 1954 to 1956. Hammond attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. After graduating from BYU, Hammond became a professor of religion at Ricks College in 1966. He was a member of the Idaho House of Representatives for 16 years from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

Before his call as a general authority, Hammond served in the LDS Church as a bishop, stake president, and regional representative. In 1984, Hammond became president of the church's Bolivia Cochabamba Mission. In 1989, he became a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. In 1993, he was transferred to the First Quorum of the Seventy, where he served until being granted general authority emeritus status in 2005.

From 1997 to 1998, Hammond was second counselor to Jack H. Goaslind in the general presidency of the Young Men organization. From 1998 to 2001, he was the first counselor to general president Robert K. Dellenbach. In 2001, Hammond succeeded Dellenbach as the general president of the organization. Hammond served until 2004, when he was succeeded by Charles W. Dahlquist II. Hammond was the last general authority of the church to serve as general president of the Young Men. From 2005 to 2008, Hammond served as president of the Washington D.C. Temple.