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Norman Tanner was a born salesman, whose exuberance and persistence helped transform the little jewelry business started by his uncle O.C. Tanner into a worldwide operation that counts the Olympic movement among its clientele.
He was also a humanitarian, whose experiences during World War II — including the liberation of Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp outside of Munich — made him a dedicated pacifist. To advance world peace, he and his wife established the Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy at the University of Utah.
For much of the past century, Tanner advocated for groups ranging from the Salt Lake Rotary Club to the Utah Manufacturers Association. When he wasn't working hard he was playing hard — skiing, fishing, climbing or flying.
Tanner died in Indian Hills on Thursday, three months after his 100th birthday. His family plans to hold a memorial later this spring.
"He was the best, an amazing man," said former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, who was in his teens when he met Tanner and later tried unsuccessfully to keep up with him on the ski slopes.
"You couldn't be around Norm for 10 minutes without noting his amazing sense of optimism. He saw the bright side of things, saw that change was possible," Wilson added. "He was optimistic enough to open a peace institute. Who has that kind of optimism?"
Tanner, who achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army, never talked much about how the war fueled his pacifism. But in a tribute prepared for his 100th birthday, he noted that as horrific it was, "war was a piece of cake compared to what I saw at Dachau. … It was the most disturbing thing that ever happened to me in my life."
Consequently, his wife of 77 years said in the tribute, "when he came back from the war, he was a real peacenik. We had the same social values. We were both, in a sense, rebels, and we just wanted to see some real social change."
Tanner took part in protests during nuclear tests in Nevada. He marched side-by-side with Russians and Americans during the Cold War. Then he and Barbara started the Tanner Center for Human Rights at the U.
"Dad really cared about peace, about women's rights, about civil rights," said his daughter, Deon Tanner Hilger, in the tribute. "He was never afraid to stand up for what he believed and saying it straight."
Tanner also cared deeply about the family business.
Before the war he was his uncle Obert's main salesman, spreading its sales of pins and rings to University of Utah fraternities and sororities, local businesses such as Utah Power & Light and then some national companies.
"Norman and Obert were a good team. They liked each other and got along," Barbara said. "Obert was contemplative, basically an academician. Norman was an extrovert, an extreme extrovert, all action."
That energy also was exhibited through his membership in numerous local civic and business groups.
Tanner was a president of the Utah Manufacturers Association and a vice president with its national organization. He was on the boards of United Way, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the National Arthritis Foundation. He was especially dedicated to the Salt Lake Rotary Club, serving as its president and in other capacities.
"Norm had the same drive the Tanner family has always had to help people in desperate need — and he had a vision to make that happen," said another former Rotary Club president, Skip Daynes, recalling how Tanner worked behind the scenes to help indigent people and collect coats for the homeless.
"He never had a need to say it was him who did it," Daynes added. "He was the most humble, the most giving, the most perceptive president we've ever had."
Born Oct. 16, 1914, in Salt Lake County to Myron and Marie Boshard Tanner, he graduated from East High School and the U., later receiving the university's distinguished alumni award.
Tanner is survived by his widow, Barbara, three children and five grandchildren, a brother (Dee) and sister (Martha Stinehart). He was preceded in death by a son, Clark.
Twitter: @sltribmikeg —
Norman Clark Tanner
1914-2015