Special Consultant to First Presidency Appointed

A man whose motivation to work has enabled him to “become anxiously engaged in business, church, education, civic activities, and welfare endeavors” has been named a special consultant to the First Presidency.

Lee A. Bickmore, who has been working closely with the First Presidency during the past two years on communications and organization, is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Nabisco, Inc., an international food processing company with headquarters in New York.

Born in Paradise, Utah, Brother Bickmore, 63, is a graduate of both the University of Utah and the Harvard Business School’s advanced management course. He joined Nabisco in 1933 in Pocatello, Idaho, eventually transferring to the company’s general offices in New York City. In 1950, he was appointed vice-president for sales, advertising, and marketing. Seven years later he was named a senior vice-president, and in 1959 he was named executive vice-president and a member of the board of directors. He was named Nabisco’s president in 1960 and became the company’s chief executive officer in 1963 and chairman of the board in 1968.

In the Church he has served on the high council of the New York Stake and has been a Sunday School teacher in his home ward in Short Hills, New Jersey. He also has been a ward Sunday School president, member of a stake Sunday School presidency, and president of a stake YMMIA.

His service to the Church will now be as consultant in such areas as business operations, financing, building, communications, and the welfare program. This latter area, along with tithing and other contributions, is considered very important by Brother Bickmore. “Giving in the Church conditions one to think more of the importance of helping one’s fellowmen and making a real contribution rather than just accumulating funds,” he declares.

“In the business community,” he adds, “we Latter-day Saints are known as hard-working, industrious people. This is a most valuable asset. Being industrious enables us to be self-sustaining, self-sufficient, and self-reliant. We thus build character, capabilities, confidence, and talents.”

Elder Bickmore, who will continue in his role with Nabisco, was married in the Logan Temple in 1939 to the former Ellen McMinn of Pocatello, Idaho; they have two daughters.