Huntsman Family Pledges $150 Million to U. of Utah for Mental-Health Services and Research

A recent report by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute revealed that nearly one in five adults in Utah have struggled with mental-health problems. Almost 40 percent of the state’s youths between the ages of 12 and 17 have experienced depression but did not receive counseling or treatment, the report said.

In response, Karen Huntsman and her family announced on Monday that they would give $150 million to the University of Utah to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, which will be focused on improving mental-health services for college-age adults and expanding access to mental-health services in rural areas throughout the state.

The family will give the money over 15 years through their Huntsman Foundation, which Karen Huntsman and her late husband, Jon Huntsman Sr., created in 1989, and endowed with a gift of $700 million in 2007. They said at the time that they planned to give away at least $1 billion to charity in the coming years. That same year, the couple gave $600 million to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, which they established in 1995.

With this latest commitment, members of the Huntsman family have given a total of more than $650 million to the university, much of it for research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and they have given about $54 million to Utah State University. They also donated $50 million to rebuilding efforts in Armenia following a 1988 earthquake, and have supported charities to help the homeless, among other causes.

Jon Huntsman Sr., who died in 2018, founded the Huntsman Corporation, a chemicals manufacturer in Salt Lake City, in 1982. In 2007 he cofounded HGGC, a private-equity firm in Palo Alto, Calif. Forbes pegged his net worth at $1.2 billion when he died. He served brief stints in the Nixon administration in the early 1970s, first as associate administrator of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and later as special assistant and staff secretary to the president.

Along with efforts to provide better access to mental-health services in rural areas of Utah, the Huntsman family’s latest donation will back mental-health services and screenings for the university’s 32,000 students and will support research at the university aimed at identifying genetic risks and other factors that contribute to mental illness.

Maria Di Mento directs the annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s top donors. She writes about wealthy philanthropists, arts organizations, and key trends, among other topics. She recently wrote about a $125 million gift from hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin to a major science museum and a $100 million commitment from Nicole Shanahan for reproductive research and other causes. Email Maria or follow her on Twitter.