This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Salt Lake Chamber will honor former Gov. Mike Leavitt on Thursday, naming him the 2014 Giant In Our City.

The business group created the award in 1970 and it normally goes to chief executives, though the Chamber did bestow it on Gov. Calvin Rampton in 1992. Other past recipients include former LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley, industrialist Jon M. Huntsman and Mitt Romney, who was honored for his work on the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Leavitt, a three-term governor, left office in 2003 to become the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and he later was named the Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. He now runs Leavitt Partners, a health-care consulting company.

Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and a close friend of Leavitt, will deliver the keynote address at the celebration.

Among the sponsors for the event is the Western Governors University, which Leavitt helped create when he was in office.

Matt Canham