MS fundraising gala honors 'champions'

Philanthropist Spencer Fox Eccles, mountaineer Jeff Lowe, Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham and world-class cyclist Dave Zabriskie are among Utahns honored last week at the McCarthey Family 31st annual Dinner of Champions.

Spence Eccles, chairman and CEO of the George S. and Delores Dore Eccles Foundation, received the Silver Hope Award at a black-tie gala held at the Grand America Hotel as a fundraiser for the Utah chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The past three decades, the event has recognized champions in Utah athletics, in community service and those living with MS. Philip G. McCarthey and the McCarthey Family, with support from the Huntsman Corp., the George S. and Delores Dore Eccles Foundation, among others, hosted the evening.

Eccles' dedication to community and passion for civic service make him the ideal community champion to carry on the legacy of this award, said Annette Royle, president of the Utah MS chapter.

Past Silver Hope Award recipients include Jon M. Huntsman Sr., former first lady Norma Matheson, builder and namesake of the University of Utah's Moran Eye Center, John Moran and car dealers Larry H. Miller and Robert Garff.

The McCarthey Family raises funds for MS because Utah has one of the highest incident rates of the disease in the country. It is found mostly among people of northern European ancestry and in higher latitudes north of the equator. Twice as many women as men contract the disease, which affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide.