J. A. O. Preus II

Preus was born on January 8, 1920, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He attended Luther Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, graduating in 1945. While in school he married Delpha Mae Holleque on June 12, 1943. He was ordained a pastor and served several congregations in Minnesota. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1951.

In 1958, he moved to Concordia Theological Seminary, then in Springfield, Illinois, as a professor. He became the president of the seminary in 1962.

In 1969, Preus was elected president of the LCMS, upsetting the incumbent, Oliver R. Harms. Preus represented a theologically more conservative wing of the LCMS, and his administration worked to reverse the policies of the more moderate administration preceding his.

In 1973–74, a battle over teachings at the LCMS's flagship seminary, Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, resulted in the suspension of the president of the seminary, John Tietjen, and the walkout of most of seminary's professors and students to form a rival seminary known as Concordia Seminary-in-Exile or Seminex. This resulted in a schism in the LCMS, with a small group eventually leaving the synod to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1976. The AELC served as a catalyst for the merger of the moderate and liberal Lutheran churches in the United States into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988.

Preus was named President Emeritus of the LCMS in 1992. He died in Burnsville, Minnesota on August 13, 1994.