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A statue of Marriner S. Eccles debuted at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, honoring the financial leadership of the native Utahn who once guided the Federal Reserve.

Eccles is widely credited for ensuring the central bank remained independent from political whims and private interests, and for his policies that helped the country turn the corner from the Depression to prosperity.

The Utah Legislature resolved in 2001 to place a statue of Eccles in the capitol building, and Tuesday's ceremony marked the end of the service of the Marriner S. Eccles Memorial Commission.

Eccles was born in Logan in 1890. After his father's death, he consolidated the family's banking and business interests and helped build First Security Corp.

His success earned him an invitation to speak in 1933 before the Senate Finance Committee, where Eccles' candid suggestions for improving the economy caught the ear of Roosevelt, who named Eccles as an assistant secretary of the Treasury Department. Within a year, Roosevelt tapped him to head the Federal Reserve.

Eccles served as chairman from November 15, 1934, through April 14, 1948.

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