Eccles endowment: new funding for U. of U. business school.

• Author: Bullinger, Cara
• Position: David Eccles endowment to the University of Utah

Eccles Endowment New Funding for U. of U. Business School

How many business majors would react positively if they were told never to work for money? It sounds like a formula for failure, but it was a point that prominent Utahn and industrialist David Eccles made to his son, Marriner. "Never work for money, my boy, because this is the wrong attitude. You should always work for the success of the business."

This ideas worked well for David Eccles. He came to the United States in 1863 as an impoverished Scottish emigrant; when he died in 1912, he left behind an empire of ownership or major interest in 48 companies.

With a generous $15 million endowment from Eccles' daughter, the late Emma Eccles Jones, the University of Utah officially named its business school the David Eccles School of Business, and announced a convocation series to give faculty, staff, and students a chance to hear from prominent national business leaders.

A Heritage of Hard Work

The Eccles family emigrated from Scotland to Utah. Their initial poverty gave David Eccles his life-long drive for hard work. During the family's first winter in Ogden, he worked daily in the foothills, cutting maple logs. His blind father made potato mashers, rolling pins, and other wooden utensils from these logs. Eccles sold these not only to his Ogden neighbors but to those in the surrounding communities.

Later, he opened his own logging and woodcutting business. In 1867, he moved to timber-rich Oregon, where he bought land and worked in timber camps. He later returned to Ogden where he became part owner in a saw mill. Six years later, he bought out his partners and expanded the operations to two more mills. In 1889, he helped organize the Oregon Lumber Co., and he served as president and general manager until his death. He built railroads in Oregon to move lumber to the mills and markets.

Combining Education and Business

Emma Eccles Jones, who died at the age of 93 on March 29, 1991, was Eccles' last living child. A pioneer in early childhood education, she recognized the importance of supporting institutions of learning.

Spencer Eccles, chairman of First Security Corp., said, "For years, Aunt Em has been very concerned that the story and accomplishments of David Eccles' life in helping to build Utah and the West were fading from memory in today's fast-paced blur of contemporary events. As a teacher, she understood the importance of clearly learning from the recorded experiences of leaders who...