This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Services will be held Wednesday for William E. Dunn Jr., a Salt Lake County commissioner throughout the 1970s and the mayor of Murray when that city secured construction of Fashion Place Mall.
He died Saturday at age 90.
"Bill Dunn was a mayor who really made a difference," said Lynn Pett, who ran Murray's parks and recreation department when Dunn was mayor (1965-70) and later became the city's mayor himself.
"He worked hard on getting Fashion Place, which is one of the biggest things that's happened to Murray and a reason why Murray is so successful," Pett noted, adding that his introduction to politics came from working on political campaigns for Dunn and his predecessor, Ray Greenwood.
Bart Barker also credits Dunn with being responsible for his entry into politics.
Now the chief adviser to Salt Lake County Councilman Richard Snelgrove, Barker was the founder and leader of the Hunter Community Council in 1978, when his involvement in annexation and incorporation issues brought him to the attention of, by then, County Commissioner Dunn.
"[Dunn] was the stabilizing influence on a raucous commission," Barker recalls, one that included talk radio host Bob Salter and Bill Hutchinson, who left office after alleged indiscretions with an aide.
"Bill was the grown-up in the room," added Barker, who took Dunn's advice to run and was elected to the commission in 1980. "He was the one everyone in the county respected — citizens, employees and elected officials alike — because he understood county government, taxes, budgeting, zoning. He managed the county."
Born March 7, 1926, to Elmer and Estella Drage Dunn, he grew up in South Salt Lake, graduated from Granite High School and moved to Murray in 1954. He was a pharmacist by trade, starting at Vernal Drug and eventually owning three drug stores — Murray City Pharmacy, American Pharmacy in Murray and Crest Drug in Midvale.
Dunn left the County Commission in 1981 to join American Express and later oversaw the state department of business regulation under Gov. Norm Bangerter.
He was married for 65 years to Norma Erickson, who died in 2012, and is survived by two sons, two daughters, three siblings, eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Services will be held at 11 a.m. at Cameo Park Ward, 8909 S. 1700 East in Sandy. Friends may call from 10-10:45 a.m. He will be buried in Murray City Cemetery.
William E. Dunn Jr.
1926-2016