E. Dale LeBaron was born on October 8, 1934 in Barnwell, Alberta, Canada to Homer Neal LeBaron and Luella Pearl Wight. He went on to serve a mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa from 1955 to 1958. He returned home and married Laura May Brooks in the Cardston, Alberta Temple on August 19, 1959, and together they had six children. LeBaron attended Brigham Young University where he would earn his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree. He then served as mission president of the South African Johannesburg mission from 1976 to 1979. He was a professor of religion at Brigham Young University from 1986 until 2001. LeBaron wrote and spoke widely on the Church and its history in Africa and returned to Africa to collect oral histories of the early African converts to the Church. E. Dale LeBaron passed away on December 3, 2009.