Denny Sanford was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on December 23, 1935. Young Denny developed an early work ethic during his summers, working in his father’s clothing distribution company. His mother died of breast cancer when he was 4; and his father died of heart disease at a young age.

Denny attended St. Paul Central High School. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1958 with a degree in psychology, he was recruited by Armstrong Cork Co. as a sales and marketing manager. In 1960, he left Armstrong and formed a manufacturer’s representative company, promoting technical construction products through architects and engineers.  He subsequently formed a distribution company and, in 1971, acquired a 50-year-old chemical company from Sears, Roebuck. In 1972, he took that company, Contech, Inc. public at $5/share; ten years later, he sold Contech for $35/share. At that point, Denny took a different tack and formed Threshold Ventures, a venture capital company.

In 1986, he purchased United National Bank in Sioux Falls, SD (now First PREMIER Bank), and built it, along with a newly-formed credit card company  (Premier BANKCARD) from 80 employees to over 3000 employees. In 2002, Denny co-founded First PREMIER Capital in Minneapolis, engaged in the business of commercial equipment leasing. He remains active in Threshold Ventures and the financial institutions today.

Denny’s philanthropic endeavors are profound. His primary interest is in helping sick, disadvantaged, abused and/or neglected children. To that end, he has been a long-time supporter of the Children’s Home Society (CHS) in South Dakota, most recently donating $550,000 to them for the Scott Sanford Children’s Center for abused kids, and $14M for the CHS Endowment Fund. 

In 2001, he formed the Sanford Foundation for charitable giving.  Since then, Denny has donated $16M to build the Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD; $20M to the University of South Dakota for the Sanford School of Medicine; $15M to the Mayo Clinic for construction of the T. Denny Sanford Mayo Clinic Pediatric Center; and $500,000 to the HealthEast Foundation in St. Paul to build the William Sanford welcome center at Bethesda Hospital.  There are numerous other recipients of Denny’s charity, landing him at No. 14 on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of top donors for 2005, No. 49 on BusinessWeek’s “50 Most Generous Philanthropists” in 2006, and garnering many other awards for his generous contributions.

In 2006, Denny pledged up to $70 million to the state of South Dakota for the Sanford Science Center at the former Homestake Mine in Lead, S.D., to develop the national underground science laboratory.  And on February 3, 2007, he announced a $400 million gift to the Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System (now called Sanford Health).

Denny’s personal interests include golf, snow skiing, sailing and traveling around the world on his private jet.  His permanent residence is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and he also maintains homes in Scottsdale, Arizona and Vail, Colorado.  He has one brother, two sons and two grandsons.