President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Gordon B. Hinckley has died. Various news outlets were reporting the leader's death Sunday evening though few details were available.

Hinckley, the 15th LDS Church president, had been a trusted advisor to his last three predecessors, becoming Second Counselor in the First Presidency to Spencer W. Kimball on Dec. 2, 1982, and subsequently serving as First Counselor to both Ezra T. Benson and Howard W. Hunter.

At the time of Hunter's death on March 3, 1995, Hinckley, as senior member and president of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, became the faith's presiding authority and was formally appointed its president nine days later.

A lifelong employee and later a General Authority of the LDS Church since completing a two-year LDS proselytizing mission in 1935 -- the lone exception being a brief interval during World War II when he was a supervisor for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad -- Hinckley was noted for shepherding the worldwide religion through a period of substantial growth, especially as regards its building of temples.