Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman was born in 1937 and is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Huntsman Corporation. Jon Meade Huntsman, Sr. is the father of the US ambassador to China, and former governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman Jr.. Huntsman has been married to his wife, Karen, for more than 50 years, and they are the parents of 9 children and have 56 grandchildren, two of whom are adopted from China and India. Born in Blackfoot, Idaho, his family moved to Palo Alto, CA in 1950.

Early Years

While in high school, Jon was recruited to attend the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania by Harold Zellerbach, the Chairman of Crown-Zellerbach Paper Company. After graduation he married Karen Haight in June 1959. After two years in the Navy, he earned an MBA from USC (University of Southern California).

After developing the first plastic egg carton at Olson Brothers, Inc. in Los Angeles, he became president of Dolco Packaging Corporation in 1967. In 1970 he started the Huntsman Container Corporation with his brother, Blaine, in Fullerton, California. During this time he also served on the White House staff as Associate Administrator of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the Nixon administration.

Jon Huntsman retired from public service in 1972 as his business continued to grow and expand. After selling the company to Keyes Fiber Company, he served four (4) more years in the container business as CEO. He then founded Huntsman Chemical and acted as CEO and Chairman while growing the business which became the Huntsman Corporation in 1994. In 2007 he founded a private equity fund, Huntsman Gay Global Capital with Robert C. Gay and former football quarterback Steve Young.

Philanthropy

Mr. Huntsman is a concerned citizens and philanthropist. His chosen humanitarian projects include contributions to the homeless, the ill and the under-privileged, and thousands others worldwide.

He was second on the list of largest donors by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The Salt Lake Tribune (Jan 1, 2000) included Mr. Huntsman among “The 10 Utahns Who Most Influenced Our State in the 20th Century” in 2000. In 2001, Mr. Huntsman was presented the Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

In 2003, he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award, and in 2007 The Chronicle of Philanthropy placed him in second position on their list of largest donors. And in November, 2008, the American Cancer Society presented him its Medal of Honor for Cancer Philanthropy.

He and his wife, Karen, founded the Huntsman Cancer Instituted in 1995 with this quote, "Selfless giving unto others represents one's true wealth."

There is much inattention given to worthwhile causes, and Jon Huntsman continues to use his wealth and influence to fill the gap. In 2005 he wrote "Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)" drawing moral lessons from his life experiences.

The second edition is entitled "Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times", which made the Wall Street Journal’s Best Sellers list. Although he was once ranked the 47th richest man, his intention is “to die broke", having donated much of his fortune to assist with cancer research.

Although perceived to be a conservative, in 2001 the Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City, UT, Rocky Anderson, had this to say about Jon:

"I was impressed with Jon from the first, when he told me he lost respect for Richard Nixon (Huntsman served as a special assistant to then-President Nixon in the early 1970s) when he learned that Nixon had not given anything to charity one year he was president ... It was clear to me that Jon's real motivation in his work and accumulation of wealth was to give much of what he has to make people's lives better." Click here for the Transforming Child Behavior Home Page.

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