facebook-pixel

Gehrke: Huntsman is one of the most influential people in Utah history

Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune The Salt Lake Tribune staff portraits. Robert Gehrke.

Brigham Young is undoubtedly the most influential Utahn of the 19th century. It would be hard to argue Jon Huntsman Sr. doesn’t deserve that mantle for the 20th.

From his business to his faith to his philanthropy to his political work, there is really no aspect of Utah life that doesn’t, in some way, bear Huntsman’s mark.

And whichever youngster or yet-to-be-born Utahn becomes the most influential in this century, he or she will likely owe a debt of gratitude to Huntsman’s indelible legacy — whether it is better educational opportunities, thanks to the tens of millions he gave to public schools and universities, or a longer life as a result of his crusade to beat cancer.

Scott Anderson, the influential CEO of Zions Bank, places Huntsman among business magnates like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie.

“Self-made people, who build empires, but they also gave back,” Anderson said. “That’s why we remember them.”

It’s hard to fathom the boy born in rural Idaho and raised by an abusive father would someday become such a titan. But he married well, got a break in his in-laws’ business and rolled the dice on a wild bet.

And it hit. Big time.

The Huntsman empire, which began with clamshell containers used by McDonalds, grew into a global behemoth that spread into specialty chemical interests around the globe. And as his wealth expanded, he did something noble: He started giving it away, trying to build something bigger than himself.

Most notable is the Huntsman Cancer Institute, where he has invested more than half a billion trying to fight a disease that claimed his mother and his father and that he, too, was diagnosed with in the early 1990s.

Historian Will Bagley said that in a lot of ways Huntsman epitomized Utah Mormon values — he had a big family and “he made lots and lots of money” — but his philanthropy will be his real legacy.

(Tribune file photo) Jon Huntsman in 2005.

(Tribune file photo) Jon Huntsman in 2005.

Huntsman developed deep ties to political leaders, both in Utah and nationally, and he gave large amounts of money to candidates from both parties.

His only personal flirtation with politics failed to gain traction, and he cut short a bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 1988, but 16 years later his son was elected governor and, with the financial backing of Huntsman Sr., eventually made a short-lived bid for the presidency.

When I was compiling a list of Utah’s most influential political figures earlier this year, I wondered, because of his age and health, if Huntsman still warranted a spot high in the ranking. Absolutely he did, those I consulted with told me. Anyone who wanted to run for a high office in the state still had to “kiss the Huntsman ring,” and those who crossed him still did so at their peril, as evidenced by the way he steamrolled the University of Utah president’s attempt to fire the head of his cancer institute.

I recall on a visit to the newsroom after his son Paul bought The Sat Lake Tribune, Huntsman Sr. was expressing concern about the political climate, fretting about the future. And he encouraged the reporters in the room to be bold, pursue the truth.

While he didn’t always like the coverage of himself or his company, he recognized the important role of an independent Tribune and tried for years to purchase the paper to ensure it survived.

It’s the same commitment to the people of Utah that drove so much of his life. The accomplishments of governors and politicians tend to fade over time and one religious leader invariably gives way to the next.

The Huntsman legacy is built of sturdier stuff, in the buildings, in the educational programs, in the cancer institute and in The Tribune, and in the example of generosity he lived.