During his 30 years as an entrepreneur, Larry Miller, the billionaire car dealer and philanthropist, worried about money.

Not about making it — but what to do with it.

He donated millions to various philanthropic endeavors, including $50 million to build the Salt Lake Community College campus that he personally helped design, $10 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and millions more on extensive scholarship programs for hundreds of college students, to name just a few.

"He looked at money as a stewardship rather than ownership," says his widow, Gail. "He treated money as if it were God's money and he had to find ways to do good with it."

The Deseret News has learned that this stewardship will continue even after Miller's death in February. In the last years of his life, Miller established the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation.

Patterned after the Eccles Foundation, it will fund good works in perpetuity. A portion of Miller's estate has been placed in the foundation as well as in a trust to fund Miller's many business enterprises. A designated portion of the trust will pass to the foundation each month, as well as money that is earned by the trust.

Eventually, after the last of the Miller grandchildren passes away, the entire Miller fortune will be placed in the foundation, including his professional basketball franchise, the Utah Jazz.

"It was one of those things that we worked on as a family," says Gail, who is overseeing the trust. "He didn't want everything he built in his life to dissolve after he was gone; he wanted the business to continue and the money to do good things. If it's managed right, the foundation will go on forever."

Miller viewed his businesses as a way to help others. He used to thank and recognize his employees for helping his companies earn the money that funded his philanthropy.

This year, the foundation is funding the Joseph Smith Papers project, the Hansen Planetarium and the Teach the Teachers program.

In the years ahead, the foundation, according to Gail, "will provide assistance to women and children, health issues, things that primarily make life better for lots of people, not just individuals."

Nothing corrupts like money, whether it's the gluttonous pro athlete who buys 18 cars, the Saudi prince who spends a half-billion dollars on a private jet or the CEO who takes millions in bonuses while his employees are losing their jobs. Miller worried that money might change him and went to great lengths to guard against it. He rarely bought anything for himself, wore cheap watches and casual (nondesigner) clothing and drove nice but unassuming cars. He viewed money as a responsibility and sometimes even a burden.

"For me, money was the means to an end, and that end is to help others," Miller liked to say.

Miller worked on setting up his foundation for the past 15 years. Says Gail, "It was very important to him. This was his life's work. He met with advisers several times a year. They would gather information and report to Larry, and then he would mull it over and talk about it and then they'd meet again. It took a while to put in writing what he had in his mind. He was very thoughtful and deliberate about this. After working on it for years, he felt good about it and what it would do."

Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. Please send e-mail to drob@desnews.com.