Alexander B. Morrison was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1987 and was named emeritus General Authority in October 2000. With masters degrees from the University of Alberta and the University of Michigan, and a doctorate from Cornell University, he became an internationally recognized scientist and directed several committees in the World Health Organization. In 1984 he became the first recipient of the David M. Kennedy Service Award from the Kennedy International Center at Brigham Young University and in 2001 was named administrator of the year by the George W. Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks Morrison, are the parents of eight children.