Two Utah business leaders to be inducted into hall of fame

Two prominent Utah business leaders — Osborne Jay Call and James Lee Sorenson — will be inducted into the Utah Business Hall of Fame Monday evening.

The honor recognizes leaders whose vision and innovation have had an impact on Utah, Phil Cofield, Junior Achievement of Utah president, said in a news release.

"They are those whose lives most inspire others to great things," he said.

Call worked in the petroleum industry for more than 45 years designing and creating retail fueling properties, including self-service stations, convenience stores and truck stops.

He grew his company from the inside and from out, making several major petroleum industry acquisitions, the release said.

In 1979, Call opened the first Flying J travel plaza. Catering to professional drivers, his travel plazas were an immediate success along interstate highways nationwide.

Sorenson founded Sorenson Media. The release said he has worked to unite innovative ideas with talented management teams to produce a number of growing new enterprises. The result has been vibrant companies and thousands of new jobs in the state.

Over the past decades, Sorenson also built an array of highly successful industrial, commercial, residential, office and real estate properties. And in 2009, while co-founding Sorenson Capital, a Utah-based midmarket private equity firm, he raised more than $650 million to invest.

Junior Achievement of Utah established the Utah Business Hall of Fame in 1990 to recognize past and present business leaders for their contributions to the state. —

Utah Business Hall of Fame

Previously Inducted Hall of Fame laureates include:

Jerry C. Atkin

Dale H. Ballard*

John Moses Browning*

Joseph A. Cannon

R. D. "Don" Cash

William H. Child

George S. Eccles*

Marriner S. Eccles*

Spencer F. Eccles

Eugene K. England

William K. England

John W. "Jack" Gallivan

Kendall Day Garff*

Richard K. Hemingway*

R. Earl Holding

Jon M. Huntsman

Ellis R. Ivory

B.Z. Kastler

Fred P. Lampropoulos

Larry H. Miller

June M. Morris

Raymond J. Noorda

Scott S. Parker

Richard S. Prows

Rhoda Ramsey

Robert L. Rice

R. Thayne Robson*

Joseph Rosenblatt

Roy W. Simmons

Hyrum W. Smith

James Levoy Sorenson

N. Eldon Tanner*

Obert C. Tanner

I.J. "Izzi" Wagner*

Honorary Laureate

Secretary Health & Human Services:

Mike Leavitt

* inducted posthumously