Emil Baer Fetzer (January 4, 1916 – November 2, 2009) was an American architect and the head architect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1965 to his retirement in 1986.
All the temples designed by Fetzer include single spires (see Temple architecture (LDS Church)). Many of these temples (including those in Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Australia, and Chile) are similar in floor plan, but differ slightly for a locale-specific flair. The Ogden and Provo temples had nearly identical exteriors with large orange central spires that symbolized the pillar of fire by night, then set upon a large white building that represented the pillar of cloud by day, referring to the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt spoken of in Exodus 13:21–22.[citation needed] The spires of the Ogden and Provo temples were later painted white.
Fetzer was the son of John Fetzer, Sr. (one of six architects of the Idaho Falls Temple) and Margaret Baer.[1] He was the brother of Primary song composer Elizabeth Fetzer Bates. He married June Alma Seyfarth on June 14, 1940, in the Salt Lake Temple. Fetzer died of causes incident to age.[1]