In 1970, Jon M. Huntsman started a small entrepreneurial firm with his brother. By 2000, Huntsman Corp. had grown to become the largest privately held petrochemical and plastics business in the world. Today, Huntsman is a billionaire philanthropist who recently donated $225 million to establish the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. He has also contributed millions of dollars to help rebuild the country of Armenia; supported organizations that feed the poor, house the homeless and protect victims of domestic violence; and provided numerous high school students with college scholarships.
Huntsman himself was the recipient of an academic scholarship to Wharton where he received the Most Outstanding Graduate Award. He went on to earn an MBA and receive 12 honorary degrees from various universities. Since his graduation from Wharton, he has donated more than $50 million to the school.
In his new book, Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten) (Wharton School Publishing), Huntsman offers a "moral compass" for business leaders and others to live by that is based on his own experiences. In the book, he reflects on his childhood in Blackfoot, Idaho, his family -- he and his wife Karen have nine children and 52 grandchildren -- his position as special assistant to Richard Nixon, his two battles with cancer, and his experiences building an extremely successful business based on "honest, ethical practices."
He has earned the praise of people from all over the world. In 2001 he was presented with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award; in 2003 he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from CNN's Larry King; and in 1994 he was given the Kaveler Award as the chemical industry's most outstanding CEO. Prior to that, the country of Armenia gave him its highest award -- the Medal of Honor. He is on the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross and chairman of its Biomedical Services Committee.
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