SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. was remembered Saturday inside a basketball arena bearing his name as a generous and kind man devoted to his faith, family and community.
Read more: ‘A profoundly inspiring life’: Utahns mourn the death of Jon Huntsman Sr.
Photo by Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News
The elder Huntsman was the founder and longtime executive chairman of Huntsman Corp., an $11 billion company that refines raw materials that go into thousands of products. He and his family have given away more than $1.4 billion, including donations to a Salt Lake City cancer institute named for him.
Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80.
Peter Huntsman, current president and CEO of Huntsman Corp., said his father always placed family, faith and charity ahead of business.
“His business success was nothing more than a means to an end,” the son said, wiping away tears.
Seven of Huntsman’s children spoke during the service inside the University of Utah arena renamed in his honor 30 years ago. Nearly half of the lower bowl seats of the arena were filled.
“To the end, he remained upbeat and positive — his two favorite character traits,” said son Jon Huntsman Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Russia and formerly a Utah governor, presidential candidate and ambassador to China and Singapore. “He lived a full, bold American life.”
A committed member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Huntsman served in several high-level leadership positions with the faith and had close friendships with the past five church presidents.
M. Russell Ballard, a member of a top-governing council called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said Huntsman’s scriptures were battered and falling apart but that he declined an offer of a replacement because he had marked up the ones he had.
Huntsman Sr. was born in 1937 in Blackfoot, Idaho, and later moved to California, where he met his wife Karen while in junior high school.
The couple later moved to Salt Lake City in the 1970s where they raised nine children, many of whom became involved in the family business. Huntsman is survived by his wife and eight children. One daughter, Kathleen Ann Huntsman, died in 2010 at age 44 after struggling for years with an eating disorder.
In 1970, Huntsman founded the Huntsman Container Corp., which focused on food packaging and pioneered the clamshell container used for McDonald’s Corp.’s Big Mac hamburger. He formed Huntsman Chemical Corp. in 1982 and more than a decade later, consolidated his companies as Huntsman Corp., producing materials used in a wide range of products, from textiles and paints to plastics and aviation components.
After amassing his fortune, Huntsman gave more than $100 million in the mid-1990s to establish a research center at the University of Utah dedicated to finding a cure for cancer through human genetics.
Huntsman, who lost both his parents to cancer and fought his own battle with the disease, eventually gave more than $400 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and its foundation.
Written by ASSOCIATED PRESS
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FILE - This Oct. 3, 2014, file photo, shows Jon Huntsman, Sr. speaking to reporters during a press conference, in Salt Lake City. Several thousand people are expected to attend the funeral Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, in Salt Lake City for billionaire and philanthropist Huntsman, with speeches scheduled by top-ranking Mormon leaders and his son, the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. | Photo by AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File, St. George News FILE - This Oct. 1, 2015 file photo shows Jon Huntsman, Sr., during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Facility at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City. Several thousand people are expected to attend the funeral Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, in Salt Lake City for billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., with speeches scheduled by top-ranking Mormon leaders and his son, the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. | Photo by AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File, St. George News Family members follow the casket during the funeral for Jon M. Huntsman Sr. at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. | Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret News via AP, St. George News Jon M. Huntsman Sr.'s children and family members carry his casket following funeral services at the Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. The elder Huntsman was the founder and longtime executive chairman of Huntsman Corp., an $11 billion company that refines raw materials that go into thousands of products. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. | Photo by Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News The Huntsman family follows the casket at the conclusion of funeral services for Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. Utah billionaire and philanthropist Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. | Photo by Scott Sommerdorf/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News Grandchildren release balloons at the graveside service for Jon M. Huntsman Sr. at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. Billionaire and philanthropist Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. | Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News Karen Huntsman steps away from the casket carrying her husband, Jon M. Huntsman Sr., at the conclusion of his funeral services, at the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. Utah billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. was remembered Saturday inside a basketball arena bearing his name as a generous and kind man devoted to his faith, family and community. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. |
Photo by Scott Sommerdorf/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Russell M. Nelson talks to the children of Jon Huntsman Sr. during funeral services for Huntsman at the Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. A committed member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Huntsman served in several high-level leadership positions with the faith and had close friendships with the past five church presidents. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. |
Photo by Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News Mark Huntsman walks with his mother, Karen, at the funeral services for Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. Utah billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. was remembered Saturday inside a basketball arena bearing his name as a generous and kind man devoted to his faith, family and community. Huntsman died Feb. 2 at age 80. |
Photo by Scott Sommerdorf/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, St. George News
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My more cynical side tells me a billionaire can’t be that good of a person. It’s self-contradictory. I also find it ironic that a chemical mogul is so lauded for funding cancer research. Last I checked it was chemicals that caused the cancer.
Hey look! It “comments” again coming on here to bully again behind a fake name! Keep it going!
Why don’t you show some respect? This isn’t the time or the place for your type of comment!
It may well be the last article i read about jon huntsman– “the final nail in the coffin” if you will. might be the last chance i have to “express my feelings”.