"If someone invested $100 million it would give them 2.6 million shares back then," said Jonathan Hamilton, manager of media relations for Abbott. "Today, after the splits, he would have 32 times what he had, or 82 million shares owned right now worth $3.277 billion."

More conservative estimates place Sorenson's Abbott stock at 52.4 million shares, which today would be worth roughly $2.1 billion, a value more in line with Sorenson's Forbes ranking.

The annual dividend return alone on 52.4 million shares would have amounted to nearly $50 million in 2002.

"He has financed most of his subsequent transactions out of the dividend flow," Crocker said. "He has been very hesitant to sell any Abbott stock because of the tax consequences of selling that kind of stock. Virtually the bulk of his estate remains that Abbott stock."

The titanic success of his sale of Sorenson Research to Abbott was tied in large part to the company's innovative medical products. Some of those products revolutionized the industry, according to Fred Lampropoulos, founder and chief executive of South Jordan-based Merit Medical Systems Inc.

Lampropoulos singles out Intraflow, a continuous flush device that kept catheters open by preventing coagulation and allowing physicians continuous measurement of invasive blood pressure.

"Prior to that time, they would have to do it on an intermittent basis," Lampropoulos said. "His company was the first company to come up with this device."

In fact, Intraflow became Sorenson Research's most successful product, accounting for 40 percent of the company's sales.

A high price

But if success and riches come at a price, the cost to Sorenson may well have been time itself.

Victor Cartwright, a former partner, calls Sorenson an intelligent, shrewd, hard worker. However, he said, making money became his life.

"He never takes a vacation. He doesn't have any hobbies. He doesn't play golf. He doesn't play tennis. He doesn't go on any cruises that I know of," Cartwright said. "He just liked to make money. That was his hobby."

On several occasions, Cartwright invited Sorenson to go fishing.

"I went fishing once or twice a year for 25 years to Alaska. I said, 'Come on, let's go fishing up there.' He said, 'No, I can't. Maybe next year.' Now that he's 80, he says we ought to plan a fishing trip. I said, 'Jim, I quit going up there four years ago.' "

Large fortunes often come at the expense of family, Cartwright added.

"I think that people who are like that, who acquire that kind of an estate, they have to neglect their family," he said.

James Lee Sorenson, Sorenson's eldest son, said his dad was away from home much of the time but he was a good father.