O.C. Tanner Foundation Funds Renovation

College of Business Dean Caryn Beck-Dudley extended her gratitude to Episcopal Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish, the chairman of the board of the O.C. Tanner Company, and Kent Murdock, the company's CEO, at a luncheon in the newly renovated O.C. Tanner Business Lounge in the Eccles Business Building. 

 

The Tanner Charitable Trust donated a generous gift that preserved "the most beautiful room in the West," for the entire campus community. The room, with dramatic views of Logan and Cache Valley, was dedicated to the young people of the West in memory of the late Obert C. Tanner's sons, Dean, Steven and Gordon.

 

The partnership between the College of Business and the Tanner family began in the late 1960s, while the Eccles Business Building was under construction. At the invitation of former business dean Rox Collier,  Obert C. Tanner, a man whose name is synonymous with beauty and culture, examined the building's top floor which was slated to become a mechanical room. Tanner immediately saw the room's potential and envisioned the setting that became the showpiece of Utah State University. Under his direction and at his personal expense, windows were installed, opening the ninth floor to the dramatic views across the valley and toward Logan canyon. In 1989 Tanner again pledged his support to the College of Business by donating the funds for the room's first renovation.

 

Over the decades the partnership expanded to include the O.C. Tanner Company. The firm, which was awarded a Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing in 1999, is a great supporter of both the Shingo Prize and Utah Business Week.