Helio R. Camargo

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Hélio da Rocha Camargo (February 1, 1926 – July 19, 2024) was a Brazilian religious leader and the first Brazilian general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served in the First Quorum of the Seventy from 1985 to 1989, and then was moved to the newly formed Second Quorum of the Seventy, serving there from 1989 to 1990 before being released.

Born in Resende, Rio de Janeiro, Camargo joined the Brazilian military in 1943 and rose to the rank of captain before retiring. After leaving the military, he moved to São Paulo, worked as a banker, and attended a Methodist seminary. He was ordained a Methodist minister but was expelled from the seminary for opposing infant baptism, one of three ministers expelled at the time.

Camargo encountered LDS literature, began attending meetings, and was baptized in 1957. He helped build the church in Brazil, becoming the first president of the São Paulo East Stake in 1968, and later serving as a bishop, counselor to a mission president, and president of the Rio de Janeiro Mission (which covered all of Brazil north and northwest of Rio de Janeiro). Among the missionaries who served under him was Ulisses Soares, who later became an LDS apostle.

Camargo and his wife, Nair Belmira de Gouveia (married 1948), served as president and matron of the São Paulo Brazil Temple. Nair died in 2020, and they had six children. Their son Milton R. Camargo was named 1st counselor in the LDS Church’s Sunday School General Presidency in 2019.

Camargo died on July 19, 2024, at the age of 98.