Chamber to honor Sorenson as 'giant'

Top award marks great service and achievement

A billionaire. An innovator. An entrepreneur. A father. And now, a giant.

James LeVoy Sorenson will be honored Feb. 15 as the Salt Lake Chamber's 2006 Giant In Our City, the chamber's top award, which recognizes extraordinary public service and professional achievement. Past recipients include Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Huntsman Corp. founder Jon Huntsman Sr.; and Spencer Eccles, chairman emeritus of the Intermountain Banking region of Wells Fargo & Co.

"The Giant In Our City event is an opportunity for people to be inspired by the businesses (Sorenson) has started, for the ingenuity of his intellect and by his creative nature," said Lane Beattie, the chamber's president and chief executive officer. "I believe these are all things that will stimulate success from many, many other Utahns.

"James LeVoy Sorenson is a man whose story just simply needs to be told, and we are honored to be able to do so."

The award event, held at the Grand America Hotel, will boast luminaries in business, media and the community — including publishing magnate Tina Brown, former editor of The New Yorker magazine, and keynote speaker Miles D. White, chairman of Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 100 company.

Born in Rexburg, Idaho, and raised in a tarpaper shack in Yuba City, Calif., Sorenson sold pharmaceuticals to doctors before co-founding Deseret Pharmaceuticals in 1957. That led to Sorenson Research in 1962 (which was sold to Abbott in 1980), and from there the Sorenson empire was born.

Today, Sorenson is chairman of Sorenson Development Inc., and the Sorenson Companies include 12 enterprises ranging from medical devices to large-scale real estate development to information technology and communications.

These successes have helped Sorenson become one of the richest men in the nation. In 2005, Forbes magazine placed him 56th on its list of the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion.

"He is a giant, or a legend, or whatever other names you want to put there connoting a huge presence," said Brian Moss, president of the Utah Life Sciences Association. "If you try to track all the medical device companies in the state of Utah — which are considerable — at least half have his print on them. From financial, to mentoring to inventions and management, I think a lot of how these companies are managed these days have something to do with his pioneering techniques."

In addition to his business success, Sorenson is known for his philanthropic efforts. In 2005, Sorenson Genomics helped identify victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami by collecting tissue and dental samples from the most difficult victims to identify and running DNA analysis.

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