Emil B. Fetzer (January 4, 1916 - November 2, 2009) was the head architect The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1965 to his retirement in 1986.
Fetzer was the son of John Fetzer Sr. (one of six architects for the Idaho Falls Temple) and Margaret Baer Fetzer.[1] He was the brother of Elizabeth Fetzer Bates.
Fetzer married June Alma Seyfarth on Jun 14, 1940 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Fetzer received a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California. He then went to work for the architectural firm of Fetzer and Fetzer, which also included his father John and his brother Henry.
In 1965 Fetzer was called as the Architect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by David O. McKay.[2]
Fetzer was the architect for many LDS temples including the Mexico City Temple. On this temple he was influenced in its design by ancient Mayan temples.[3] Fetzer was architect for over twenty temples including the Atlanta Georgia Temple; Freiberg Germany Temple; the Jordan River Temple; the Provo Temple; the Ogden Temple; the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple; and the Tokyo Japan Temple.[4][2] He was the initial architect on the Papeete Tahiti Temple but only for the general concept of the building.[5] He was the general supervising architect for the Washington DC Temple.[6] He was also involved with the planning for the first Apia Samoa Temple.[7]
He was the architect of the building that houses the Manhattan New York Temple, although the Temple itself was constructed 18 years after his retirement.
Other buildings he designed include the South Visitors Center on Temple Square and [8] the Spencer W. Kimball Tower on Brigham Young University campus.
Fetzer was also the general supervisor of the refurbishing of the Assembly Hall.[9]
Fetzer died on November 2, 2009 of causes incident to age.[2]