Religious and spiritual leaders

Religious and spiritual leaders

Gordon B. Hinckley, 97; 15th president of the Mormon church, led its greatest expansion (Jan. 27)

Archbishop Christodoulos, 69; credited with revitalizing Greece’s Orthodox Church (Jan. 28)

The Rev. Marcial Maciel, 87; Mexican priest founded the Legion of Christ religious order and was disciplined by Pope Benedict XVI after sex abuse allegations (Jan. 30)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 91; founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement (Feb. 5)

Ruth Stafford Peale, 101; with her husband, Norman Vincent Peale, founded global inspirational organization Guideposts (Feb. 6)

Chiara Lubich, 88; founder of the international Focolare movement of the Roman Catholic Church and one of the most influential women in modern Catholicism (March 14)

Metropolitan Laurus, 80; head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (March 16)

Clyde Cook, 72; president of Biola University for 25 years (April 11)

Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, 86; Vatican official from Benin in West Africa was responsible for the world’s Roman Catholic bishops (May 13)

David M. Scholer, 70; Bible scholar and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena turned battle against cancer into testament of faith (Aug. 22)

Thubten Jigme Norbu, 86; eldest brother of the Dalai Lama and a tenacious symbol of the Tibetan struggle for independence (Sept. 5)

Imam W. D. Mohammed, 74; son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad moved thousands of blacks into mainstream Islam (Sept. 9)

Father Werner Papeians de Morchoven, 94; Benedictine monk from Belgium and former missionary to China was one of the founders of St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, Calif. (Sept. 30)

Sister Emmanuelle, 99; French nun lived for years among scavengers in Cairo’s slums (Oct. 20)

Rosa Broadous, 89; matriarch of prominent San Fernando Valley family of Baptist ministers (Oct. 28)

The Rev. Louis H. Evans Jr., 82; organizing pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church (Oct. 29)

The Rev. George M. Docherty, 97; credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance (Nov. 27)

Joseph B. Wirthlin, 91; oldest living apostle of the Mormon Church (Dec. 1)

Patriarch Alexei II, 79; restored the Russian Orthodox Church from a post-Soviet shell to an institution of privilege and power (Dec. 5)

Rabbi David L. Lieber, 83; president emeritus of what is now American Jewish University and the guiding force behind a modern Torah commentary for Conservative Judaism (Dec. 15)