The New York Times has compiled an interactive timeline of the significant events in Mitt Romney‘s life and career.

Mitt Romney Life Timeline

The 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

By early 1999, the event was $379 million in debt.  It was announced that Frank Joklik, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), and Dave Johnson, vice president, along with others had been involved in perks, benefits, and bribes that enabled Salt Lake City to be the host city for the 2002 Olympic Games.  Joklik resigned of his own free will.  Johnson, however,  was forced.

Then, on February 11, 1999, Mitt Romney left a successful entrepreneur career to be hired as the new CEO and president of the SLOC.

Romney has a history of rescuing large organizations from financial disaster (Bain and Company, 1990).  The salvation of the 2002 Games was no different.

In his three years at the helm in Salt Lake, Romney erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, galvanized community spirit and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11th terrorist attacks, leading to one of the most successful Olympics in our country’s history. (http://www.freestrongamerica.com/pa/ge/55/learn-about-mitt).

Thus, instead of being $379 million deficit, the event ended up with a profit of $100 million.  Romney spent a million dollars of his own money on the Olympics, and donated the $825,000 salary he earned as president and CEO of the SLOC to charity (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/672kwvro.asp).

Mitt Romney: there is more to the man than politics. He is, after all, a husband, father, and faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon). Mitt Romney was reared in an religious Mormon home in Michigan. He served a two year religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to France for 30 months, which is an extension of the typical 24 month mission usually served by men of the LDS faith. He was sent to France to help manage church affairs, work with young people and try to win converts. “It’s a very Catholic country, and successes are few and far between,” he says, “but I made a number of very good friends.” (Will Mormon Faith Hurt Bid for Whitehouse, 2007).

Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints before they were married in 1969. They have five sons together and have been touted as having a strong marriage, based on Christian values taught by the Mormon Church.

Mitt Romney has also served in the Church as a part-time lay minister (Bishop and Stake President). Due to his religious beliefs, which include adhering to what is referred to as the Word of Wisdom, Mitt Romney abstains from drinking alcohol, using tobacco, and any illegal drug use. He also pays a full tithe to the Church which means he donates 10% of his income to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He also attends the temple of the Mormon Church and recommends that people learn more about the temple by visiting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The LDS Church teaches first and foremost that there’s a God who is our Heavenly Father, that all the children of the world are his, that humanity is one great family, that we have a duty to serve one another and that we should try and live better lives. Believing in humanity as one great family is why the members refer to one another as “brother” and “sister”.

Being a member of the Mormon Church can be difficult at times due to the extreme beliefs that the members are held to. They are to attend church services every week, attend the temple on a regular basis, donate 10% of their earnings to the church, have a food storage system in place, love thy neighbor, be financially sound, help others, avoid caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea, and more. There are of course benefits to being a member of the Mormon Church. They believe in life after death, families forever, the ability to become a God, repentance, Christ-like love, salvation, and more.

Additional Resources:

Mitt Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. Learn more at the official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”).

The Book of Mormon is a companion to the Bible and contains the gospel of Jesus Christ. Request a free copy today.

Attend a local meetinghouse.

“He was extraordinary . . . my dad . . . I am a small shadow of the real deal.” As Turner and Field note in Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values, and His Vision: “Any father’s heart would swell to hear his son–especially his son the successful businessman, governor, and presidential candidate–describe him in such humble yet powerful terms” (Mapleton Publishing, 2007, p.1)

Mitt Romney was born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan and is the son of former Governor of Michigan and Presidential candidate George W. Romney. He and Ann have been married 36 years and have five sons (Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig) and nine grandchildren.

Two hearty generations are linked together in Willard Mitt Romney:

Like his son, George Romney was a CEO, governor, and presidential candidate. The physical resemblance is striking: chiseled features, winning smile, and a full head of graying hair. But there are differences at every step along father and son’s journey, beginning with starkly different childhoods.

George Wilcken Romney was born on July 8, 1907, in Colonia Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The Romneys, along with thousands of other Mormons, immigrated to Mexico in the 1880s. . . . the family prospered in Mexico, where George Romney’s father, Gaskell, was a successful building contractor. Then Pancho Villa swept across northern Mexico during the revolution at the start of the twentieth century.

Gaskill Romney and his family fled back to the United States in 1912. He became just another carpenter trying to feed his family. The Romneys spent the next decade on the move, from Texas, to Los Angeles, to Idaho before settling in Salt Lake City in 1921. (Ibid)

George served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in Great Britain, where he managed to address crowds in London at Hyde Park and Tower Hill. Following his mission, serving two years as an ambassador of Jesus Christ as ordained “Mormon” elders do, he then spent some time in Washington, D.C. attending Washington University. After reconnecting with his high-school sweetheart, he married, settled in the area, and served as a lobbyist for Alcoa. He then began his tenure at American Motors, where the Romney talent to turnaround businesses manifested itself and where Mitt Romney, learned from his Latter-day Saint (Mormon) father, a great lesson: “Nothing is as dangerous as entrenched success.” (3)

See Mitt Romney, The Man, His Values and His Mission, Mapletree Publishing Company, Denver, CO, 2007.

Additional Resources:

Mitt Romney is very much like his Father. Families are very important to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”).

Learn some basic beliefs of the Mormon Church.

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and companion to the Bible. Request a free copy of either or both.