Adam S. Bennion was born on December 2, 1886, in Taylorsville, Utah, the son of Joseph Bushnell and Mary Ann Sharp Bennion. When he was a year old, his father died, leaving a widow and five young children to care for the farm and the family needs.

Although young Adam bore many responsibilities on the farm, he nurtured a burning desire to acquire an education. In 1893, he began his formal schooling in the Taylorsville Public School, and upon graduating from the eighth grade in 1901, was selected valedictorian for Salt Lake County. His superior intelligence and ambition qualified him to enroll at the University of Utah that fall, completing his high school education as a lower-division student. He received his B.A. from the University in 1908, graduating with honors and as president of his class.

Immediately following graduation, Bennion accepted a position teaching English at the Latter-day Saints High School in Salt Lake City. His marriage to Minerva Richards Young, a former student at the Latter-day Saints High School, followed in 1911, and the same year he departed for Columbia University to do graduate work in literature, receiving his M.A. from that institution in 1912. Upon returning to Salt Lake, Bennion was appointed head of the English Department of Granite High School. In 1913 he was advanced to principal, which promotion motivated him to apply to the University of Chicago for further study in the field of educational administration. Accepted, he spent another year in postgraduate study.

It was during his high school years that Mr. Bennion began his long career of service to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, holding the superintendency of the Taylorsville Sunday School from 1904 to 1907 and teaching in the Mutual Improvement Association. Later that year, he was appointed to the Granite Stake Sunday School Board, where he served until 1911. J. Golden Kimball ordained Bennion a seventy in 1910 at the age of 24--an indication of the spiritual strength and power Adam was to display in later years.

The summer following Bennion's return to Salt Lake, David O. McKay, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called him to serve on the General Board of the Sunday School, which position he held for the rest of his life. He again served as principal of Granite High School from 1914 until 1917, when he accepted an Assistant Professorship of English at the University of Utah. However, his tenure in this capacity was brief; in 1919 he was appointed a member of the General Board of Religion Classes, and in the same year named to the full-time position of Superintendent of Church Schools, both highly significant callings, difficult and demanding in nature. True to his character, Mr. Bennion continued to teach during the summers as a professor of education at the B.Y.U. Summer School. In 1921 he was permitted a two-year leave of absence from his educational and ecclesiastical duties to conclude his academic training, and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley as a degree-seeking candidate in education. While there, he served as an Associate in Education, graduating in 1923 with a Ph.D. With the acquisition of his doctoral degree, the General Authorities changed his title to "Church Commissioner of Education." One of Dr. Bennion's most important contributions as Commissioner was the institution of a program to replace Church academies with seminaries. He personally trained seminary teachers at the B.Y.U. Alpine Summer School during the summers of 1926-27. He was also instrumental in the transfer of Snow, Weber and Dixie Colleges to the State of Utah, which operated them as junior colleges. His personal philosophy as commissioner, and that of his successor Joseph F. Merrill (with strong support from John A. Widtsoe of the Council of the Twelve) was that a person "with a firm testimony would not be hurt by the learning of the world and that a broad, well-disciplined education in which the person had been challenged at every turn would make him a better teacher."

In 1926 Dr. Bennion was offered a position at Utah Power and Light by its vice president and general manager. After careful consideration, he accepted in 1928, leaving the Church Educational System with the blessing of the General Authorities to pursue a career in the business world. As personnel director, Dr. Bennion instituted progressive new programs in employee screening, safety, welfare, and insurance. He later resumed formal service to the Church in 1938 with his appointment to the Church Board of Education.

Dr. Bennion continued at Utah Power and Light until 1944, when he resigned to run for U.S. Senator on the Republican ticket. Disheartened by his defeat by the incumbent Democrat, Senator Elbert D. Thomas, Bennion gladly rejoined Utah Power and Light as vice president in 1945.

After his entrance into the business world, Dr. Bennion became active in a multiplicity of social causes, rendering countless hours of valuable service to his community. Bennion was a member of: Board of Governors, Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce (1928-1948); a Newcomen Society of England (1932); Salt Lake Library Board (1937-1944); County Chairman Salt Lake American Red Cross and Community Chest Drive (1938-1939); Salt Lake Rotary Club, President (1938-1939); President, Salt Lake Oratorio Society (1945-1954); Board of Directors, Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (1949); Utah State Prison Reform Committee (1949); Board of Regents and Executive Committee, University of Utah (1949); Chairman, Utah Public School Survey Commission (1951-1953); Blue Cross, Blue Shield Board of Directors (1951-1955); President of the University of Utah Alumni Association (1953-1955).

He also conducted Law Enforcement Investigations for the city of Salt Lake, was chairman of Citizens' Committee to Evaluate Utah State Agricultural College, served on a university committee to investigate the College of Education at Brigham Young University, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Salvation Army, the March of Dimes, and was Vice-Chairman of the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

By virtue of his work with the Utah Public School Survey Commission, Dr. Bennion was named to the National Citizens' Commission for Public Schools in 1953. A year later, Dr. Bennion was appointed to the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, with Mr. Meyer Kestenbaum as Chairman. At the suggestion of Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson and members of the Utah delegation in Congress, he chaired the subcommittee on "Federal Responsibility in the Field of Education." After completion of this task, Governor J. Bracken Lee of Utah appointed Dr. Bennion to represent Utah at the White House Conference on Education.

The demands of Dr. Bennion's professional and civic activities afforded him an opportunity to develop his speaking talents. Never shy, Bennion delivered thousands of speeches to many diverse groups with a zest that delighted his listeners. Enthusiasm, sound logic and a refreshing approach characterized Bennion's public addresses, placing him in great demand as a speaker throughout Utah. During World War II he accepted an invitation from KSL Radio to deliver a series of weekly talks "to inspire and lift the spirits of the people from the depression of the war." Many of his speeches were reproduced in pamphlet form, and he authored many publications on teaching and religion, including: What it Means to Be a Mormon (1916), Fundamental Problems in Teaching Religion (1920), Appreciation of the Book of Mormon (1920), Facing Life (1930), and in collaboration with Obert C. Tanner, Problems of Youth (1931) and Looking in on Greatness (1932). His well-known speeches was published posthumously by his son, Richard.

The pinnacle of Dr. Adam S. Bennion's success, he felt, came not in the fields of education, civic or federal service, but with his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 6, 1953. With his office as an Apostle, came membership on the Executive Committee for the Board of the Unified Church School System, in which capacity he aided in the development of the first B.Y.U. wards and stakes, and conducted mission tours. In 1957, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree at the June commencement of the Brigham Young University. Less than a year later, on February 5, 1958, Dr. Bennion died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 71.