The Tanner Family

Obert Clark and Grace Adams Tanner, who founded the Tanner Lectures on Human Values, were born in rural Utah in the first decade of the twentieth century. Hard work and a dedication to others were lived values in their families, and education was a profoundly held ideal.

Obert & Grace Tanner

A belief in the dignity and transformative power of learning was instilled in Obert by his mother, Annie Clark Tanner, who encouraged him to study joyfully, to enter the profession of teaching, and to regard the university as the greatest institutional achievement of humankind.

Grace grew up in the small town of Parowan in Southern Utah, and she graduated from what is now Southern Utah University. The Tanner family’s ties to Southern Utah have always remained strong, and the Grace A. Tanner Center for Human Values at SUU recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Obert and Grace married in 1931 and had six children: Dean, Joan, Gordon, Carolyn, Stephen, and David. Obert received both his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from the University of Utah, and he then studied Philosophy at Stanford and Harvard. He went on to teach at Stanford and Utah for over thirty years, and he also served as acting Chaplain of the Memorial Church at Stanford.

Carolyn Tanner Irish

Obert and Grace provided engaged and humane leadership for the Tanner Lectures in the early decades of the program, and the Tanner family has remained deeply involved in fostering its success. Carolyn Tanner Irish, the daughter of Obert and Grace, led the Lectures devotedly for many years, during which time she also served as Chair of the Board of the O.C. Tanner Company. In addition to her educational and business pursuits, Carolyn became an Episcopal priest in 1984, served at the National Cathedral in Washington, and was later seated as the Bishop of the Utah Diocese--only the fourth woman elected Bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church.

Stephen Tanner Irish

Stephen Tanner Irish, Carolyn’s son, has served the Tanner Lectures for more than two decades. Among many other academic achievements, he received his doctorate in the History of Science from the University of Cambridge. Stephen is the Chairman of the Board of the O.C. Tanner Company, and he teaches courses on the philosophy of science in the Philosophy Department at the University of Utah.

These three generations of the Tanner family have made lasting contributions to the development and excellence of the Tanner Lectures, and Stephen continues in this role. The values of the Tanner family remain the foundation of the Tanner Lectures program. Sterling McMurrin, a close friend who helped envision and establish the Lectures, was especially perceptive and eloquent in describing these values. He wrote in 1992 that the Tanner Lectures are “an authentic expression of the personalities and interests” of Obert and Grace: “…their moral integrity, their generosity and compassion, their concern for peace and the public good, their commitment to reason and knowledge, their love of science, the arts, and the humanities, and their passion for life.”