Utah lost "the last of a dying breed of captains of industry" Sunday when B.Z. "Bud" Kastler, former chairman, president and CEO of Questar Corp., died in St. George. He was 89.

He was "a Utah icon and a kind of straight-forward, hard-charging, no-holds-barred, dynamic business leader," said Curt Burnett, who Kastler hired as manager of corporate communications when the energy company was known as Mountain Fuel Supply Corp.

"Bud inspired intense loyalty among those who worked for him," he said. "He'd lead a charge up a hill, and we'd all follow after him.

"I remember a sign on his desk: 'I may not always be right, but I'm never in doubt,'" said Burnett, who retired as vice president of public affairs.

Burnett's predecessor at the company, Dale Zabriskie, said Kastler should be remembered for "his commitment to the community. He was certainly interested in running his corporation and making it profitable, but he had a deep sense of community responsibility and acted on that.

"Working for him, you never had to wonder what he meant by what he just said. He could be bombastic and painfully direct," Zabriskie said. "But I found him to be a very enjoyable boss to work for. If you did your job and did it well, he recognized that."

In community work, Kastler was a trustee for Westminster College; a member of the LDS Hospital-Deseret Foundation, where he was chairman of a major fund drive; president and campaign chairman of the Greater Salt Lake Area United Fund, now United Way; and a director or trustee of organizations such as Utahns Against Pornography, the Utah Symphony and the Pine Canyon Ranch for Boys, among others.

In 1985, when he retired as Mountain Fuel Supply chairman of the board, he remained as a director of three Questar-related companies and continued to serve as a board member of Albertsons Supermarkets, Bonneville International, First Security Corp. and Intermountain Healthcare, when it was known as IHC.

Retired Kennecott Corp. president and CEO Frank Joklik was a close friend of Kastler's when the pair served together for two decades on First Security's board.

"He was a man of great judgment. Invariably, you had the feeling you could trust him," said Joklik. "He was a very courteous man. I was pretty fond of him; we always had a good personal chat."

And Bruce Reese, now president and CEO of Bonneville International Corp., which operates radio stations in various national markets, was board secretary when Kastler served.

"He had a great sense of business and what was important and what was not important," Reese said. "He knew everyone in Salt Lake City; he was extraordinarily respected. There was nobody that I ever met who was quite like Bud."

In addition to all his corporate and civic responsibilities, Kastler served as president of the Salt Lake Chamber in 1977, a position now equal to the chair of the chamber's board of governors. He was awarded the chamber's highest honor, being named Giant in Our City, in 1987.

"Many people pressured Bud to run for governor or the U.S. Senate in 1976, but he thought he could do more in the private sector -- and he was right," said Fred Ball in a chamber-issued statement. Ball directed the chamber from 1971 to 1996.

Kastler, who was born in 1920 in Billings, Mont., and named Bernard Zane, is survived by Donna Endicott Kastler, his wife of 61 years; daughter Kerry Kastler Hepworth; son-in-law Wayne Hepworth; a sister Lorraine Myatt; sister-in-law Fae Reigle; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Barbara Kastler Smith, in 2007.

jkeahey@sltrib.com