Utah business titan, philanthropist Spencer F. Eccles honored

Spencer F. Eccles can trace his Utah roots back to the mid-19th century and Scottish immigrants who came to the United States thanks to a $375 loan from an early program launched by Brigham Young to help “impoverished Saints around the world gather to Utah.”

His grandfather, David S. Eccles, was just a boy on that trans-oceanic voyage but would later become one of the state’s biggest business successes, in spite of arriving in his new country with next to nothing. He sowed the seeds of a family legacy that has fundamentally changed and lifted the state of Utah, and continues to do so today.

On Thursday, Spencer F. Eccles, 90, was honored with the MountainWest Capital Network’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and celebrated by family, friends, state officials and colleagues from a wide array of arenas including business, academia and philanthropy at an event in downtown Salt Lake City.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox shared an anecdote about the time he spends with governors from across the country who are typically peppering him with questions about the keys to Utah’s success and consistently high placement in national rankings of each state’s business and economic performance.

“Inevitably I get to a point in that conversation when I talk about people who are not a part of government,” Cox told the audience gathered for Thursday’s award event at the Salt Lake Hyatt Regency. “I realized very quickly that the difference between Utah and my fellow governors’ states … is they don’t have Spencer F. Eccles, or people like him, who are constantly giving back to make our state a better place.”

University of Utah President Taylor Randall offered his thanks for the early guidance Spencer F. Eccles provided him when Randall became dean of the David S. Eccles School of Business in 2009, and said he could see that “every good at the school had Spencer’s thumbprint on it.”

Randall became the university’s president in 2021 and is the first alumnus to head the school since 1973.

“Spencer Fox Eccles is a builder of individuals, he is a builder of organizations and, finally, we all know and the reason we are here today is Spencer is a builder of our community,” he said. “You can go anywhere in the state and see arts organizations or nonprofits that are building our community because of the generosity of the Eccles Foundation.”

Looking back on the career of Spencer F. Eccles

Spencer F. Eccles earned a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance in 1956 from the University of Utah and, after completing a tour of duty as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army infantry, he went on to earn a master’s degree from Columbia University School of Business. He served for nearly two decades as chairman and CEO of First Security Corporation, the first and oldest multi-bank holding company in the U.S. and a multi-generational business that can trace its roots to his grandfather and was founded by his uncles, George S. and Marriner S. Eccles.

Marriner S. Eccles would go on to serve for 14 years as head of the U.S. Federal Reserve and during his tenure championed two major policy milestones for the monetary body — the Banking Act of 1935 and the Treasury-Federal Reserve Accord of 1951 — that would solidify the Fed’s independence. Under Spencer F. Eccles’ leadership, First Security Corporation’s assets grew from $4 billion to $23 billion. First Security Corporation merged with U.S. banking giant Wells Fargo in 2000.

Spencer F. Eccles is the current chairman and CEO of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and has served on numerous boards including as chairman of four other Eccles family philanthropic groups, Union Pacific, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Parks Foundation, Wells Fargo and Intermountain Healthcare.

“My connection to Utah runs deep through generations of the Eccles family, and I’ve dedicated my life to ensuring the vitality and growth of our great state,” Spencer F. Eccles said in a statement. “From banking to philanthropy, my goal has always been to support and advocate for the people of Utah. I am humbled by this recognition from MountainWest Capital Network, which reflects not just my efforts, but the collaborative spirit of our entire community.”

MountainWest Capital noted Spencer F. Eccles has “championed countless initiatives in education, health and wellness, the arts, community development, and preservation and conservation of Utah’s beautiful landscapes and historical places.”

His dedication to higher education, and the University of Utah in particular, has been transformative, the business network group noted, as has his commitment to youth sports and the Olympic movement, earning him the International Olympic Committee’s prestigious Pierre de Coubertin award.

Spencer F. Eccles is an avid skier and began ski racing as a boy on the slopes of Snowbasin. He raced four years at the University of Utah, captaining the team and earning All-America honors, and was first alternate on the United States’ 1958 FIS championship team. In 1998 he was inducted into the University of Utah Sports Hall of Fame and he received the Joe Quinney Lifetime of Skiing Achievement Award in 2000. In 2005 he was awarded Utah’s Ski Archives “History Maker” award for his achievements on the slopes.

In the words of a son

Spencer F. Eccles’ son Spencer P. Eccles spoke with the Deseret News ahead of Thursday’s award ceremony about his father’s career and lifelong commitment to community service.

“Business is in his DNA,” the younger Eccles said. “That’s an anchor for everything he’s done and, in many ways, it’s stemmed from being an Alpine ski racer. It taught him hard work, grit and competition, learning through success and learning through failures.”

Spencer P. Eccles, managing partner and co-founder of The Cynosure Group and former executive director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said his father sees banking as a noble profession and a community cornerstone that plays a role in each person’s life as they buy their first car, their first home, pursue an education and grow their families.

He said his dad has always been focused on individuals and is a person who is always looking for an opportunity to make new acquaintances.

“My dad is always talking to everybody,” Spencer P. Eccles said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, someone on the street, in an elevator, at an executive meeting in New York. It doesn’t matter who it is, he always wants to get to know people and hear their story. And all of that wove together in how he approached the business of banking.”

He noted that love of family runs throughout all of his father’s endeavors as well as the recognition that his long list of accomplishments is not the result of individual effort.

“If you would ask my dad about his banking career or efforts in the community he would be the first to say, ‘Our team did this, we did this together,’” Spencer P. Eccles said. “He would be the first to remind us that we do these things together and it’s one of the things that make Utah great.”