Letter: We look forward to Huntsman Jr.

How fitting Paul Huntsman offered that beautiful tribute to his father, Jon Huntsman Sr.

We were fortunate as Utah residents to have had Jon Huntsman Sr. as a local citizen and seen firsthand the generosity of his charity and magnanimous character.

Reading his autobiography, “From Barefoot to Billionaire,” several remembrances stand out to exemplify his strength of commitment to his family and himself.

In the early years on a trip to California, overnighting in Las Vegas as a rest stop, he was able to earn enough extra money on the blackjack table to give sons and daughters their rooms — an audacious “financial strategy” with calculated risk that later would be symbolic of tough, successful go-for-broke business decisions to catapult his company.

Second, his steadfast adherence to personal standards frustrated H.R. Haldeman (Nixon administration) — he couldn’t break Huntsman to compromise his moral codes. Later, out of office, Haldeman would compliment Huntsman as the only staffer never to weaken under his attacks.

Now seeing many of his father’s genes have been passed to him, we look forward to Jon Jr.’s skills bringing back civility, intelligence and compromise to our Washington governance.

The tribute would continue!

Peter R. Finn, Salt Lake City