H. Burke Peterson

Who was H. Burke Peterson?

Harold Burke Peterson was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death. He was a counselor to the presiding bishop and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He became an emeritus general authority in 1993.

Peterson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where he became an Eagle Scout. Beginning in 1940, Peterson attended Phoenix College, and in 1942 he joined the United States Navy. He completed a civil engineering course of study at the University of Oklahoma and became a Seabee, working on projects in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.

After the war, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and taught at the Utah State Agricultural College while he earned his master's degree there. After graduating, he worked in Phoenix with the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1955, he and two other Latter-day Saints founded a civil engineering firm.

In 1947 Peterson married Brookie Cardon in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They eventually had five daughters.

Prior to his call as a general authority, Peterson served in the LDS Church as a bishop and stake president in Phoenix; then later as a regional representative for the Phoenix, Mesa, and Tempe regions. On 6 April 1972, Peterson was appointed as first counselor to Victor L. Brown, the church's presiding bishop. Peterson acted in this capacity until 1985, when Brown was succeeded by Robert D. Hales.