Jon M. Huntsman made a surprise announcement Wednesday, donating $1.25 million to the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business to endow a presidential chair in the name of Spencer F. Eccles.
Huntsman, the billionaire chairman and CEO of the Salt Lake-based Huntsman Corp., unveiled his plan to honor Eccles, chairman and CEO of Salt Lake-based First Security Corp., as Huntsman delivered the 9th annual Spencer Fox Eccles Convocation at the business school."I've watched over the years as Spencer and the Eccles family has done so very, very much for so many others, and it occurred to me this morning that it's time we did something for them," Huntsman said.
Huntsman honored Eccles as a friend and "one of the truly great men of our era."
"I hope (the endowed chair) will honor the name of Spencer F. Eccles. I hope it will always reflect his high values and his great moral character and his lovely wife and children and will be a symbol for all young men and women who want to attain and achieve the high ground that Spencer F. Eccles has attained in his life," Huntsman said.
A presidential endowed chair is a $1.25 million gift to support outstanding faculty. Endowed chairs enable the university to attract, retain and honor distinguished faculty members with the funding they provide.
Huntsman, the donor of two other presidential endowed chairs in urological oncology and in finance at the David Eccles School of Business, requested that the new chair be established for a faculty member in banking at the business school. Huntsman named the chair in honor of Spencer Fox Eccles to acknowledge him as a committed friend of the university and of the business school.
Eccles played the major role in securing the $15 million endowment given to the business school in 1991 by his aunt, Emma Eccles Jones. The school is named after his grandfather, David Eccles.
Also on Wednesday, Utah entrepreneur Ezekiel "Zeke" R. Dumke was inducted into the David Eccles School of Business Hall of Fame.
Dumke founded Bullfrog Resort at Lake Powell and was the general manager for 10 years. He also founded and was the president of Red Butte Gardens. He also help found the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation and the University of Utah Hospital Foundation. He has also endowed two chairs -- one in business and one in health sciences, a business school spokeswoman said.