Donations and Endowments
After Eccles finalized arrangements for both his business and personal affairs, he initiated "bequests designed to encourage the emergence of young leaders of the future who could recognize, as he did, 'that the good of the individual, the family, and the community was indivisible with the good of the larger national and world society." Eccles found time to serve on a few special committees and select groups. Notable among these was the board of the American Assembly sponsored by Columbia University. The group met yearly and sponsored publications regarding issues of public concern. Many of these books and publications can be found in the Marriner S. Eccles Library of Political Economy, a part of the Eccles collection that was among many contributions to the University of Utah. In addition to providing for fellowships, he also established the Marriner S. Eccles Library of Political Economy, and created the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation. The Foundation funds various causes within Utah, encompassing private, non-governmental, charitable, scientific, and educational organizations for the benefit of the citizens of the state. Eccles also established the Marriner S. Eccles Professorship of Public and Private Management at the Stanford University School of Business in 1973.
During 1977, Eccles' health worsened, and he stopped traveling between San Francisco and Salt Lake City. He died in Salt Lake City on December 18th, 1977. Eccles is well remembered by many. His descendants and other family members continue to contribute generously to Utah institutions, and in 1982 the main Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D. C. was named in his honor.
A more personal tribute is contained in a letter written to Eccles in June 1977, shortly before his death. In it his brother-in-law, Joe Quinney, referred to the biography that Sidney Hyman had been writing: "I must tell you I feel the author did not reveal the whole MSE to the extent I would have recommended. You were and are more than a mere technician and manipulator. There is also that MSE who is tempestuous in battle; argumentative and insistent in debate; tough-even hard-boiled in business relations; yet honest, judicious as you saw justice; companionable with your friends, especially your good old friends with whom you are mellow, kind and considerate; who can dish it out and take it in good humor; whose family relationship, though strange at times has an underlying affection and compassion."
