Background
Baxter joined the Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) Church along with his mother and siblings when he was twelve. Shortly after this, his mother remarried and the family moved to Surrey.
Baxter joined the Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) Church along with his mother and siblings when he was twelve. Shortly after this, his mother remarried and the family moved to Surrey.
Baxter then attended the University of Wales where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.
A native of Scotland, and a resident of England at the time of his call, he is only the third general authority who was native to the United Kingdom and also living there at the time of his call. After graduating, Baxter served a mission in the Scotland Edinburgh Mission, starting in 1976. Foreign ten months of this mission he was branch president in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.
After returning from his mission, Baxter and Dianne Lewars were married and they are the parents of four children.
Baxter served for a time as a senior director at British Telecom. Baxter became an Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) bishop at age 25.
He also served as a counselor in a stake presidency, as president of the Ipswich England Stake and as a counselor in the presidency of the England London Mission. From 2002 to 2006 he was an area seventy, which included serving as a counselor in the presidency of the church"s Europe West Area from 2004 to 2006.
After his call as general authority, Baxter served as a counselor in the church"s New Zealand/Pacific Islands Area and then as president of the Pacific Area, each based in Auckland, New Zealand.
In 2009, Baxter was diagnosed with brain cancer after suffering a seizure while touring a mission in Australia. He underwent brain surgery and radiation therapy for the treatment of this illness. He is the author of "A Perfect Brightness of Hope", published in 2012 by Deseret Book, as well as "Peace, be Still" (2013) and "What Good Men Do" (2014), published by Cedar Fort, Incorporated.
He also served as the United Kingdom Government"s Director for international trade and Investment for Greater London and as a member of the Board of Capacity Builders, a United Kingdom Home Office Agency. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Business Link for London (small business advice service), and as a member of the Board of London First, on the China, Burma, India Theatre of Operations London Council, and as Deputy Chairman of the East Anglian Ambulance National Health Service Trust.
