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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Utah clinical audiologist whose work chronicling Utah and LDS Church history earned him awards and acclaim has died.
Richard S. Van Wagoner died unexpectedly Sunday at his home in Lehi, his daughter Jenny Woods told The Associated Press. He was 64.
An official cause of death was not immediately available.
As a historian and author, Van Wagoner was widely published in journals chronicling the history of Utah and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including the Utah Historical Quarterly, Dialogue and Sunstone. He served on the board of the Utah-based publishing house Signature Books.
Van Wagoner was best known for his books "Mormon Polygamy: A History" and "Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess," which was named best book by both the Mormon History Association and John Whitmer Historial Association.
Van Wagoner also served as an unofficial historian for the city of Lehi and authored, "Lehi: Portraits of a Utah Town," and other works about the community.
On Monday, Utah historians mourned Van Wagoner's loss, calling him a rare historian whose scholarly works had become classics of LDS history.
"I've long considered Richard one of the finest historians of my generation and a helluva nice guy to boot," historian Will Bagley said in an e-mail to the AP. "His contributions to Mormon and Utah studies are beyond measure."
In his professional life, Van Wagoner was an audiologist. Since 1977, he had owned the Mountain West Hearing Center in Salt Lake City.
A fifth-generation LDS Church member and a self-described "rock-ribbed skeptic," Van Wagoner was a Utah native.
He is survived by four children, 11 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Woods said a funeral service is planned for Saturday in Lehi.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
