Named in honor and memory of pioneering Utah industrialist and entrepreneur David Eccles, father of George S. Eccles, the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business remains a focus of the philanthropy of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation.
Named in 1991 in honor and memory of pioneering Utah industrialist and entrepreneur David Eccles – father of George S. Eccles – the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business remains a focus of the Foundation’s philanthropy. Grants have supported not only student scholarships, faculty excellence and innovative teaching initiatives, but also the transformation of the school’s physical campus.
What began in 2000 with the opening of the C. Roland Christensen Center led to the 2006 announcement of the school’s campaign to create a new “David Eccles School of Business campus,” replacing 1960s-era buildings with state-of-the-art classrooms and innovative learning spaces. The Foundation’s $17.6 million lead gift set the campaign on a course for success that has continued for more than a decade. Today, at the heart of the campus is the school’s flagship, 189,000-sq. ft. Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building, which opened in 2011. It was joined in 2016 by the innovative Lassonde Studios; in 2017 by the Thomas S. Monson Center, home to the school’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute; and in 2018 by the Robert H. and Katharine B. Garff Executive Education Building.
Recently, a landmark $20 million grant – funded jointly with $10 million from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation, with matching funds from the Charles Koch Foundation – established the Marriner S. Eccles Institute for Economics and Quantitative Analysis, named for George Eccles’ eldest brother, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the nation’s independent central bank founded in 1913. The institute will attract world-class faculty and researchers and enable outstanding students to pursue specialized economics degrees with innovative studies focused on econometric and data analysis, game theory, and wide-ranging economic thought.