Under this pressure, his already frail health broke, and his life became a constant struggle against physical weakness. Through his remaining years he guarded his energies and rationed them to fulfill his responsibilities. His illness was diagnosed only at end of his life as lupus erythematosus, a disease that produces chronic weakness.
At the death of Heber J. Grant, he was sustained as Prophet at the age of seventy-five. Serving as President for six years, he died on April 4, 1951, on his eighty-first birthday, leaving as his chief legacy an example of Christlike living.
