William W. Parmley

Parmley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 22, 1936, to Thomas J. Parmley and his wife, LaVern W. Parmley.^[1] From 1957 to 1958 he served as an LDS missionary in the Northwestern States Mission based in Portland, Oregon. Parmley received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University, an M.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School, and internal medicine training from Johns Hopkins Medical School and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.^[1][2][3]

Parmley was involved in several studies involving heart muscle issues. He wrote the 1996 text entitled Cardiology.^[4] He also served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology^[5] and as president of the American College of Cardiology.^[6] Parmley also co-authored with Stanton Glantz several papers on the health effects of passive smoking that were covered by the news media.^[7][8] He retired from the University of California, San Francisco in 2003, after which he became active in a campaign to eradicate measles.^[9]

He became a member of the LDS Church's Second Quorum of the Seventy in April 2003. Prior to his call as a general authority, Parmley served previously in the church as a bishop, stake president, and area seventy. As a general authority, Parmley served in the presidency of the church's Africa Southeast Area.

From 2009 to 2012, Parmley was president of the Sacramento California Temple.^[10]

Parmley was married to Shanna Lee Nielsen and they were the parents of four children.^[11] He died on May 23, 2026, at the age of 90.^[12]