Quick Facts
Biography
Otto Vincent Haleck, Jr. (born January 19, 1949) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2011. He is the first person from American Samoa or Samoa to become a general authority of the LDS Church and is also the first non–New Zealander from the Pacific Islands in this position.
Haleck was born in Utulei, American Samoa. At the age of 10 he was sent to Seattle, Washington to live with a relative and attend school. He moved to California to live with other relatives and to attend high school and at the age of 17 he joined the LDS Church. After high school, Haleck became a missionary in the church's Samoa Apia Mission from 1968 to 1970. In 1972, he married Peggy Ann Cameron in the Provo Utah Temple and they are the parents of three children.
Haleck received a bachelor's degree in marketing and advertising from Brigham Young University and went on to own a number of food distribution companies in American Samoa.
In the LDS Church, Haleck has served as a bishop, high councilor, stake patriarch, and stake president. He served as president of the Samoa Apia Mission from 2008 to 2011 and was in that capacity when he was called as a general authority and member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy in April 2011. After becoming a general authority, Haleck moved from Pago Pago, American Samoa to Salt Lake City, Utah. From the time of his call to August 2013, he filled assignments at church headquarters. From August 2013 to August 2016, he served as a counselor in the presidency of the church's Pacific Area. In that position, Haleck supervised the church's school system in Kiribati. In 2016, Haleck became president of the Pacific Area.