Leon R. Hartshorn (January 16, 1929 – August 11, 2015)[1] was a religion professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author of many books.
In the LDS Church, Hartshorn has been a bishop and the president of the Missouri St. Louis Mission.
Hartshorn grew up in American Fork, Utah, and was a Mormon missionary in the LDS Church's Northern States Mission from 1949 to 1951.
Hartshorn was a contributor of the article "Gift of Discernment" and others to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and in 1996 was a co-editor with Dennis A. Wright and Craig J. Ostler of a book on the Doctrine and Covenants.
Most of Hartshorn's collections of stories about church leaders were published in the 1970s, although some have been republished in the 21st century, often under slightly revised titles to make it evident they do not encompass the lives of apostles or general authorities called since the 1970s.