Biographical Background
Arrington was born in Twin Falls, Idaho on July 2, 1917. His parents were devout Latter-day Saints and farmers. He grew up as an aspiring farmer and active member and one of the first national officers of the National FFA Organization. Under a scholarship to the University of Idaho, Arrington studied agricultural science in 1935, later changing to agricultural economics. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1939. Arrington then began graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and married Grace Fort in 1942.
From 1943 to 1946, he served in World War II for the United States in North Africa and Italy.
After teaching in Logan, Utah, he returned and completed a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in March 1952. In 1958, Harvard University Press published his Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900, based on his doctoral dissertation, Mormon Economic Policies and Their Implementation on the Western Frontier, 1847-1900.
Arrington remained an active and devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout his life. In 1982, his wife Grace Fort died, and in 1983 Arrington was remarried to Harriet Ann Horne.
On February 11, 1999 at the age of 81, Arrington died of heart failure at his home in Salt Lake City.
Read more about this topic: Leonard J. Arrington
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