Huntsman's charity sets him apart

Huntsman moves easily in the halls of power in Utah and elsewhere. President Hinckley uses the Huntsman corporate jet whenever he travels and Huntsman is son-in-law to Elder David B. Haight of the LDS Church's Quorum of The Twelve.

One insider said church leaders routinely ask Huntsman to take on special projects, "ones where Jon can use his international connections and resources to solve an immediate problem."

Huntsman was the national finance chairman for Elizabeth Dole's presidential campaign in 2000. He is chairman of international services for the American Red Cross and sits on the board of the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a master's degree.

Jon Huntsman Jr. is leaving his job as Huntsman Corp. vice chairman to become a top trade ambassador in the new Bush administration.

As Huntsman reaches the peak of wealth and influence, he appears on the brink of taking a new, broad step: Getting out of the petrochemicals business and concentrating on his charitable foundation.

"We are getting closer and closer to the point where I can sell some or all of my business holdings," Huntsman said in the second of two long-ranging interviews. Huntsman said he owns personally about 66 percent of Huntsman Corp., the rest held by his children.

But he gives no time frame for redirecting his efforts. And, in fact, Huntsman Corp. last month made two major purchases, buying a division of Dow Chemical and a European petrochemical firm. Huntsman Corp.'s holdings are now 60 percent outside of the United States and much of its day-to-day operations are run out of its Brussels offices, where son Peter Huntsman has relocated to be company president and CEO.

"As soon as the economy turns around, as soon as the chemical industries that I'm in get stronger . . . as we pull out of (a slumping economy) and move forward I'd like very much to convert my plants and operating equipment — people think that because you have some affluence that it's in cash — in order to do the things I'd like to do — build the research centers and do more in areas to help those who are suffering with disease, or lack of education, poverty or homelessness," Huntsman said, naming a few of his charitable endeavors.

Following in the footsteps of Carnegie, Rockefeller and Armand Hammer will take money. "And it takes large amounts of money," Huntsman said. But he's eager for the challenge.

And for those who think Huntsman comes late in life to such concerns, think again, says Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson. Huntsman has always gathered friends around him who may, on the surface, seem quite dissimilar.