James L. Sorenson dies at 86

The Man Behind the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation

James LeVoy Sorenson, an entrepreneur and inventor whose innovations made him the wealthiest man in Utah, died Sunday, January 20 at a Salt Lake City hospital.

Sorenson was a renowned philanthropist, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine to be $4.5 billion. He was 68^th on the list of richest Americans last year. Sorenson was 86 years old.

He was the billionaire no one ever heard of, although richer than Donald Trump and Ted Turner. Jim Sorenson kept a much lower profile. He never became a household name, and he carefully avoided the media spotlight.

Among his philanthropic endeavors was the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. The foundation is creating a worldwide, correlated genetic database to help in genealogical research.

Sorenson lived a modest life in Salt Lake City. At age 83, he still worked more than 40 hours every week in his office. His new non-profit foundation consumed much of his time. He hoped the foundation would help show that all people are related to each other in some way, a basic concept that could help foster world peace.

His vision for a comprehensive genome database of mankind was probably his last and greatest challenge. He poured millions into the SMGF, employing about 20 people, half of whom had doctorate degrees, dedicated to advancing the project.

After the tsunami of 2004 devastated southeast Asia, he donated DNA testing kits to assist in identifying the dead, and Sorenson Genomics — one of his companies — analyzed their DNA, matching some victims with their relatives. The kits and analysis were valued at $1.5 million.

"This is my legacy to my heirs," he said at the time, noting that he and his wife, Beverley, have two sons, six daughters, and more than 60 grandchildren. "I want to leave a better world for them."

Those closest to Sorenson said he had a gift for coming up with broad ideas and then surrounding himself with people who could implement the details.

"He has a thousand ideas," says H. Gary Pehrson, regional vice president for Intermountain Health Care hospital, based in Salt Lake City. "Then he takes the best ones and finds people who can make them happen."

Sorenson was 13 when his father had a chance to grab the Coca-Cola distributorship in three northern California counties for $2,300. The young teenager begged the elder Sorenson to do it and offered to drop out of school and help run the business. But his father backed away.

"He wouldn't take the risk," Sorenson said. He said that it was a life lesson. "Have courage to bet on yourself."

In 2004 Sorenson told an audience at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, where he'd spent one semester before heading out into the business world, that the database would contribute to world peace as people realize that genetics crosses cultural and ethnic boundaries.

Sorenson used his public talk to 450 faculty and staff members to spread the word about his next big thing: a genetic database that he believed would ultimately break down ethnic, political and social barriers.

"We're all connected. We're all children of God," he said.

A genetic clearinghouse could have plenty of commercial value - as well as moral and ethical ambiguities. Sorenson said the money doesn't interest him.

Sorenson did not know exactly how much he was worth nor he did he seem to care. His portfolio included $2.5 billion in Abbott Laboratories stock, and his $1.4 billion in Utah land holdings was second only to the federal government. Yet those are only part of his financial portfolio. Sorenson's net worth is believed to be greater than that of Ted Turner ($2.4 billion), Donald Trump ($2.5 billion) or H. Ross Perot ($3.8 billion), according to Forbes magazine.

"His inventions changed critical care medicine virtually overnight," says Fred P. Lampropoulos, chairman and CEO of Utah-based Merit Medical Systems Inc.

He was the owner of the Sorenson Companies, a parent group to 32 corporations in industries from medicine, bioscience, investment, development to manufacturing.

"I think success in his mind was someone that had ideas, that had a strong work ethic and a tenacity," son James Lee Sorenson told the Deseret Morning News. "As you look at examples in the world today, those are important attributes. I think Dad was a calculated risk-taker, and successful people generally are. Successful people are generally in it for the long haul. With Dad, unlike many, he started with nothing or less than nothing and built it from the ground floor."

The elder Sorenson graduated from high school without any special honors and then spent one semester at what is now Sierra College in Rocklin, California. He dropped out to enter the business world although his career was interrupted by World War II. He served in the U.S. Marines. After the war ended, Sorenson returned home, soon becoming a salesman for the Upjohn Company, selling drugs in the Salt Lake City area. He then went into the real estate business and made a fortune. Later still, he invented the first disposable surgical mask, plastic catheters, and a blood recycling system that retrieves, cleanses, and reinfuses a patient's own blood during surgery.

Sorenson's companies are headquartered in a two-story cinder block building in south Salt Lake City.

Inside, his self-decorated office was jokingly described as "early American insurance salesman" by one staffer. None of his inventions were on display.

"What's the point?" Sorenson said. "That's history. I'd rather look ahead."

But the largest picture in his office showed him as a smiling 3-year-old in front of the spartan Yuba City family home. "Bandy Track Ally," he said, pointing to the photo. "Rough part of town. We celebrated when my dad put in a shower and a toilet."

He donated land and money to help build the Sorenson Unity Center at California Avenue and 900 West, next door to the Sorenson Multicultural Center. The YMCA's Camp Rogers in the Uinta Mountains also benefited from his generosity.

"He was one that had great tenacity in the face of conventional wisdom and common practice and stuck to his ideas and persevered and succeeded. He's been looked at as a visionary man, but I would say there was a real practical side of him, where he was able to make those visions come true by never giving up and methodically working at them and succeeding. So, from a business perspective, he was one of those very uncommon, interesting entrepreneurs who thought outside of the box and tenaciously went after what he thought was right."

In April 2007, he gave $6 million to the new Intermountain Medical Center, raising his contributions to Intermountain Healthcare to $22 million. He pledged $500,000 during a fundraiser for Primary Children's Medical Center in June 2007. In September 2007, the nonprofit Sorenson Legacy Foundation donated $6 million to the University of Utah, toward the James LeVoy Sorenson Center, which will be dedicated to encouraging innovation and discovery among students across Utah.

A crisis concerning the Legislature's refusal to fund some items in the state Medicaid program was averted in 2006 when Mr. Sorenson and Intermountain Healthcare donated $1 million each. The next year, the Legislature picked up the tab.

"He was interested in philanthropy and helping people — a lot of people," James Lee Sorenson said. "It was a variety of different things, and they were not necessarily things that were calculated. As he saw needs and was moved a certain direction, then he would help them in any way he could, sometimes with ideas as well as money, and with things that we probably aren't all aware of.

"He had a great love for people and a great altruistic desire for peace, particularly in the latter part of his life. The whole DNA project and his foundation and the money that's been spent there was really motivated by helping people to see how they're related, and, through that, gain a greater sense of belonging or kinship and get people thinking a little bit more about each other."

Miles White, chief executive officer of Abbott Laboratories, has characterized Mr. Sorenson as "an American original who spent his legendary career developing innovations that have greatly enhanced the quality of health care, and improved and saved lives."

"Jim Sorenson is one of the world's most prolific and productive pioneers of medical devices," White said. "His inventions had a monumental impact, and they've stood the test of time. Look in any modern operating room or intensive care unit, and you'll see enduring evidence of Jim's creative solutions to tough medical problems."

Mr. Sorenson is also known for a gift he took back in the summer of 1989.

Then-U. President Chase Peterson persuaded Mr. Sorenson to donate $15 million of Abbott Laboratories stock to the U.'s School of Medicine and promised to add Mr. Sorenson's name to the medical school. But rumblings by faculty, students and the community led to controversy over the proposed name change, and those opposed to the gift had legislation drawn up that would remove Mr. Sorenson's name from the school. Ultimately, Mr. Sorenson asked the university to return the $15 million in stock.

After beginning his career selling pharmaceuticals to physicians for Upjohn Co. in Salt Lake City, Mr. Sorenson started buying real estate in the Salt Lake area. In 1957 he co-founded Deseret Pharmaceutical, and the company became the foundation for the establishment of Becton Dickinson Vascular Access. In 1962, he founded Sorenson Research, which was sold to Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 100 company, in 1980.

He founded LeVoy's, a company that made lingerie for modest women and used Tupperware-style marketing with parties hosted in homes. He also owned and developed thousands of acres of commercial, residential and agricultural properties throughout Utah.

He was elected to the national executive board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1991.

Sorenson held more than 40 medical patents in his lifetime and is perhaps best known for co-developing the first real-time computerized heart monitor. He also invented the disposable paper surgical mask, the plastic venous catheter and a blood recycling system for trauma and surgical procedures, as well as many other medical innovations.

Not bad for a boy who grew up in Yuba City, Calif., where teachers thought he was mentally retarded and told his mother he would never learn to read. It was decades later that Mr. Sorenson learned he had dyslexia.

James LeVoy Sorenson was a baby when his parents, Joseph and Emma, moved from Idaho to a tar-papered chicken coop in Yuba City, California, where Joseph dug sewer lines for a living. James Sorenson was an undiagnosed dyslexic, labeled "retarded" by his first-grade teacher. However, his mother refused to give up on him. With her help, he learned to read.

"I developed ways to compensate for my disability," Sorenson says. "I learned to look at things differently, to slow down and contemplate what was going on. The deficit became a plus."

Mr. Sorenson, who was born in Rexburg, Idaho, and grew up in central California, is survived by Beverley Taylor Sorenson, his wife of 60 years, and two sons, six daughters, 47 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

His body has been buried at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.