IAC Emeritus
Dennis B. Neuenschwander is an Emeritus General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as as area president in the Europe and Europe East Areas, accompanied by his wife, Joni, who was assigned to Church History. The Neuenschwanders also served eight months in Istanbul, preparing for the arrival of the first group of LDS missionaries.
Elder Neuenschwander served as an LDS Church missionary in Finland and earned degrees from Weber State University and Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. in eastern European languages from Syracuse University. He taught Russian language classes at BYU and the University of Utah, and later was hired by the LDS Church's genealogical department, where he was involved in microfilming and translating genealogical records from eastern Europe. In 1987, he was appointed president of the church's Austria Vienna East Mission, which at the time included Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, and Cyprus. In the early 1990s, he was asked to assist the church in expanding missionary work into Bulgaria, Romania, and parts of the USSR.
In 1991, Elder Neuenschwander was called as a general authority of the church and member of the Second Quorum of Seventy. In 1994, he was transferred to the First Quorum of Seventy. From 2000 to 2004, he was a member of the Presidency of Seventy, and he has served in the area presidency of a number of areas of the church, including eastern Europe. He was designated as an emeritus general authority during the church's October 2009 general conference.
Elder Neuenschwander and his wife of 44 years, LeAnn Clement, had four sons. She died of cancer. Elder Neuenschwander married Joni Kay Lee in 2008.