Ivory learned $$ lessons early

"At the wedding, he (Boyer) realized for the first time that Katie had a younger sister," Ivory says. Boyer ended up marrying her — making Boyer and Ivory brothers-in-law. They would also become business partners and two of the state's top developers.

Ivory obtained his real estate license the same month he was married and worked with his father. "Dad's construction business totally fizzled, and he filed bankruptcy when I was in high school, so he had no credit. So he got his (real estate) license," Ivory says.

But Ivory made only $550 in commissions in four months working with his dad, while his wife was making twice as much as a secretary. So Ivory jumped at the chance for another taste of politics.

He was hired as a field director for Republican Mitch Melich's gubernatorial campaign. "He lost. If he had won, I'd probably be a worker for the state government to this day," Ivory says.

Ivory finished a degree in political science in June 1965 and returned to his father's small real estate office. Through work there, he became acquainted with attorney Frank Johnson and his brothers, who would become key future partners. Ivory and Boyer also soon formed their own land development company.

A turning point came when Ivory's father received a phone call from a man anxious to sell a 700-acre farm near St. George. The Johnsons bought it, planning to use it as a ranch. Ivory's help was soon sought to help reverse negative cash flow there.

By chance, Ivory asked a real estate office in St. George if it had many requests for building lots.

"She showed me a notebook full of requests," he says. "But she said, 'We don't have any lots. People around here give them to their kids.' That was my whole market research." With that, Ivory, Boyer and the Johnsons soon formed a company called Terracor that developed Bloomington on that farm near St. George — a project that launched the building boom there.

Terracor also developed Stansbury Park in Tooele County and the Pinery near Denver. By 1970, Terracor — with 29-year-old Ivory at its helm — had 350 employees, with offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City and Chicago. It even had three private jets.

Ivory, however, wanted to slow Terracor's growth, scale back and cut staff — but its board did not. "I left shortly after that," he says, noting that later Terracor "filed bankruptcy, and they were in bankruptcy for 10 years."

Meanwhile, Ivory formed Ivory and Co. in 1971 and enjoyed success with it developing land throughout the '70s. Then, in 1979, he was called as an LDS mission president for three years in England.