SALT LAKE CITY — Friends among his fellow apostles of the LDS Church said goodbye Friday to their "dear friend and beloved brother," Elder Robert D. Hales, at his funeral at the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

"With the courage of a jet pilot, the tenacity of a champion athlete, the humility and devotion of a disciple of the Lord, Elder Hales has completed his life’s mission in a most exemplary way," said President Russell M. Nelson, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"He has passed the tests of mortality and returned home with highest honors."

Elder Hales died Sunday of causes incident to age between sessions of the church's international general conference. He was 85. Elder Hales had served 42 years as a general authority of the church — 23 as an apostle, nine as the church's presiding bishop and 10 as an assistant to the Twelve or member of the First Quorum of Seventy.

Speakers described him as a dedicated, valiant and loyal friend and apostle, despite more than a quarter century of health challenges.

Leaders said his service blessed people worldwide, including his time as the Presiding Bishop overseeing the church's welfare, humanitarian and temple-building efforts.

"His contributions to the entire church and to each member of the quorum cannot be overstated," President Nelson said. "He was tireless in his ministry. In his 42-and-half years in church leadership, he has participated in nearly every council and committee at church headquarters. His wisdom, insight and influence have had a profound effect on the rolling forth of the kingdom of God across the globe. In addition, his personal ministry to individual Saints in every corner of the earth is beyond measure. He has fully magnified his apostolic calling as a special witness of the Savior."

Loyal friend

Elder Hales had the gift of being a perfectly loyal friend, said President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, the leading ruling body in the church.

President Eyring repeatedly became emotional talking about his friend, whom he'd known for 70 years, including their time as students at Harvard, when Elder Hales worried that accepting a call as an Elders Quorum president might undermine his effort to earn an MBA. His wife encouraged him to accept, and he did.

"Whatever the cost and how difficult the command, he was loyal to his family and friends, to the Lord and to the Lord’s prophet," President Eyring said.

Elder Hales again accepted when a church president called him to set down his career as a successful business executive at Gillette and Papermate and other companies — "He was a legend in the business world in his own time as a 42-year-old," President Eyring said — and become a general authority.

"To him, the call was not from a man, but from a friend to whom he was loyal," President Eyring said. "To Robert D. Hales and Mary Crandall Hales, hearing a call from the president of the church was the same as hearing the Lord's voice."

President Eyring was present once when Elder Hales was revived after another heart attack.

"He was lying on his back, he opened his eyes wide, reached out to take my hand, gripped it hard and said, 'They made me come back,'" President Eyring said, adding "He felt in a moment of intense testing that he was supposed to do something difficult and he was loyal to the command he had received."

He saw that loyalty again in the past few weeks.

"Elder Hales was laboring over the talk he was assigned to give at general conference," President Eyring said. "He wanted with all his heart to bear his sure witness once again of the Lord Jesus Christ. The effort was so great that his strength began to fail. He had gone to the limit and beyond of his earthly ability to keep his commitment to serve the Lord. I saw in his example again the truth that ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.' The Lord and the Lord’s prophet came to be Elder Hales’ friends."

Elder Hales did not attend the conference and was unable to deliver the talk, but another apostle, Elder Neil L. Andersen, shared passages from the address in the conference session hours after his death.

Heart troubles

Elder Hales suffered the first of multiple heart attacks in August 1991.

"From that time on, health issues came one after the other," said Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Twelve, adding that, "As we sat together over these many years, I've witnessed the great courage and complete dedication of Robert D. Hales."

Elder Ballard and Elder Hales met as students at the University of Utah, then later served together for over 40 years in church assignments and committees. For the past several years, they had sat side by side in the Quorum of the Twelve.

"My dear friend has always been a hero to me," Elder Ballard said, "and I know he’s now relieved and at peace with his beloved parents, Rulon and Vera, other family members and most of all in his return to being with his Heavenly Parents and his beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he had given his all as one of his chosen apostles."

President Nelson, a retired heart surgeon, sat in when another surgeon performed an open heart coronary bypass procedure on Elder Hales more than 20 years ago.

"I know Bob’s heart, literally," President Nelson said to laughter. Then he added, "Serving closely to Bob for so long, I know that his spiritual heart is pure."

Elder Ballard said the quorum will miss Elder Hales' quick wit, wise counsel and insights on issues facing the church today.

President Nelson said quorum members will miss "his New York-bred candor."

Tender marriage

Each speaker praised the marriage of Elder and Sister Hales, who celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in June, and the sacrifice and support of Sister Hales. Their sons, David and Stephen Hales, provided the family prayer and dedication of the grave, respectively.

"You and generations yet unborn," President Nelson told the family, "may depend on the rock-solid testimony of this great man, the exemplary, noble patriarch, Elder Robert D. Hales."

Church President Thomas S. Monson, 90, was absent Friday for the same reason he missed the faith's international general conference last week for the first time: limitations incident to advancing age. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who sat next to Elder Hales in quorum meetings for 23 years, also was absent.

Elder Hales is the fourth apostle to pass away in the past 29 months. Elder L. Tom Perry died in May 2015 at age 92, President Boyd K. Packer was 90 when he passed away in July 2015 at age 90 and Elder Richard G. Scott died in September 2015 at age 86.

The four apostles served in the Quorum of the Twelve for a combined 135 years.

President Monson called three new apostles in October 2015, Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Dale G. Renlund. Church leaders have not determined when the new vacancy in the quorum will be filled, according to a news release.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed three hymns, "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good," "I Need Thee Every Hour" and "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."

Church leaders also thanked Elder Hales' secretary of 28 years, Mary Berrey.

A private burial service took place at the Bountiful Memorial Cemetery in Bountiful, Utah, following the funeral.

There was no public viewing, but expressions of sympathy can be posted on the Elder Robert D. Hales Facebook page or emailed to condolences@ldschurch.org.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the humanitarian aid fund or the church’s general missionary fund at give.lds.org/hales.