Laureates' Biographies
Obert C. Tanner
Obert C. Tanner was born in Farmington, Utah, as the youngest of ten children. At a young age, Tanner thinned sugar beets, herded sheep, and other farm work.
While attending the University of Utah, Tanner helped pay for his tuition by waking up at 3:30 each morning to make furnace fires and clean coal stoves in affluent Salt Lake City homes. One day, after working in home of a man who owned a jewelry store, Tanner talked his way into a clerk job at Shubach's Jewelry store.
As a young scholar himself, Tanner believed students should be recognized with more than just a paper diploma after graduation. He went to work in his mother's basement designing and creating class rings and pins, which he soon began selling.
In 1927, Tanner founded the O.C. Tanner Company, a company that grew to become on of the most successful businesses in the west. In 1993, O.C. Tanner had 2,000 employees and an annual sales volume of $200 million.
In 1929, he completed a B.A. degree; however, Tanner went on to earn three more academic degress: an L.L.B. from the University of Utah in 1936, an M.A. from Stanford University in 1937, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Utah in 1967. He also recieved honorary degress from most of Utah's universities and colleges. Tanner was an instructor in Religious Studies at Stanford University and a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah. He authored or co-authored ten books.
Tanner's numerous contributions to Utah's cultureal community included serving as chair of the commission that planned Utah Symphony Hall (now Abravanel Hall), the Utah Art Center, and the restoration of Salt Lake City's historic Capitol Theatre.
Tanner donated more than forty fountains to communities, hospitals, and universities. he also funded the Adams Shakespeare Theatre at Southern Utah University and the O.C. Tanner Ampitheater located near Zion National Park. Tanner established 11 college philosophy libraries throughout the nation and endowed the world-renowned "Tanner Lectures on Human Values," given annually at Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, Michigan, Stanford, and Princeton Universities.
From his philosophy to his jewelry and fountains, Tanner's life work was creating beauty in the world.
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