1921: Born in Rexburg, Idaho. During Great Depression, family moves to Yuba City, Calif.

1940: Enters Placer Junior College, now Sierra Pacific College, on basketball scholarship. In second year, is accepted into prestigious U.S. Navy V5 pilot training and V7 medical school program.

1942: Serves mission in New England for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1944: Enters U.S. Maritime Service, goes on to graduate from Officers Candidate School and completes pharmacy internship.

1946: Marries Beverley Taylor of Salt Lake City. Hired as Upjohn pharmaceutical sales representative; moves to Salt Lake City.

1947: Makes first real estate purchase, a $50 down payment on newly built home in Rose Park; makes first investment real estate acquisition, 3.5 acres on Salt Lake Valley bench.

1957: Stops selling for Upjohn and co-founds Deseret Pharmaceutical. At Deseret Pharmaceutical, he invents first disposable paper surgical mask and first modern intravenous catheter; both quickly become standard equipment in health care.

1960: Sells his share of Deseret Pharmaceutical and purchases garment manufacturer he renames LeVoy's.

1962: Founds Sorenson Research in back room of LeVoy's.

1965: Develops E-Z Cath and MiniCath catheter products.

1969: Develops Receptal, a suction and disposal system that leads to creation of blood filtering and recovery system for surgical procedures.

1971: Develops Intraflo, with continuous catheter flushing so blood won't clot catheter tip.

1973: Founds Sorenson Development Inc.

1974: Develops Intracath, a disposable venous catheter system.

1975: Develops first real-time computerized monitoring of heart via catheter.

1976: Develops Dial-A-Flo, an infusion rate regulator.

1980: Sells Sorenson Research to Abbott Laboratories. Sorenson Research fuels the growth of Abbott Critical Care Systems (now part of Hospira, a global speciality pharmaceutical and medication delivery company created from Abbott's core global hospital products business). Sorenson becomes Abbott's (and later Hospira's) largest private stockholder. He also begins creating a family of companies in diverse industries unrelated to medical devices.

1999: Breaks ground on Rosecrest, a master-planned subdivision on Salt Lake Valley's southwest bench.

2000: Founds Sorenson Genomics LLC.

2001: Founds nonprofit research organization Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation.

2007: Breaks ground on Jordanelle Ridge, a high-end master-planned community in Heber Valley.

Source: The Sorenson Cos.