T. Denny Sanford

Sanford's first job was at age 8 working in his father's garment shop. He later became a student at the University of Minnesota, intending to become a doctor but struggled with chemistry and switched majors, eventually graduating with a degree in psychology in 1958.[3] Sanford made his fortune as the owner of subprime credit card providers First PREMIER Bank and PREMIER Bankcard.[4] The bank is known for specializing in a wide range of high-interest, subprime credit cards marketed to individuals with low credit scores. In 2007, Sanford paid $4.5 million as part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General which alleged deceptive practices used in its marketing. Premier Bank offered a credit card with a 79.9% interest rate and a $300 limit, an amount cited by Senator Bernie Sanders as an example of what "extortion and loan sharking".

In 2018, T. Denny Sanford ranked #1103 on the Forbes World's Billionaires list, with wealth listed at US $2.2 billion.[5]

Sanford was born on December 23, 1935, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, during the Great Depression. Sanford's mother, Edith, died when he was 4 years old from breast cancer. In his teenage years, he was reportedly arrested for drinking and fighting and placed in a juvenile detention center, being released after 36 days on the condition that he enroll in college. Sanford has 2 sons from his first marriage (1960-1982) - Scott, a ship captain, and Bill, a physical therapist.[6] In 1987, at age 52, Sanford met his second wife, Colleen Anderson (then 36). They married in 1995 and their divorce was finalized in 2005.[7]

Sanford has pledged to give away his entire fortune during his lifetime, giving financial contributions to various higher education and healthcare institutions without a formal foundation nor permanent staff.[11] BusinessWeek magazine listed him as a top fifty most generous philanthropists in November 2006.[12] As of October 2018, he has donated over $1 billion.[13]

• In 1999, Sanford agreed to match up to $2 million in donations to the Children's Inn and Children's Home Society of South Dakota, which cares for abused and neglected children, through 2002.[14]
• In December 2001, Sanford gave $100,000 to the Sioux Empire United Way to help abused and neglected children.[15] Roundup River Ranch, an affiliate of Paul Newman's Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, located in Gypsum, Colorado, received $4 million. The State of South Dakota's Science and Technology Authority, to help secure a deep underground science and engineering laboratory at the former site of the Homestake Gold Mine.
• n 2003, Sanford and the University of Minnesota announced that Sanford would donate $35 million towards a proposed new football stadium for the Minnesota Gophers football team; a deal which would have given him full naming rights.[16] However, that deal fell through in late 2003 when the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on terms of the funding. Later in 2005, TCF Bank won the bid to receive naming rights for the new stadium.[17][18]
• In 2004, Denny Sanford announced a gift of $16 million for what would become Sanford Children's Hospital. Children's care was one of the five centers of excellence what was then Sioux Valley Medical Center[19] The University of South Dakota School of Medicine was renamed the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota following the donation. The William Sanford Welcome Center at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota and the T. Denny Sanford Pediatric Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota were also later named following sizeable donations from Sanford.
• On February 3, 2007, Sanford announced a $400 million gift to Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System, which renamed itself Sanford Health.[20] The gift was featured on The Chronicle of Philanthropy "Philanthropy 50: Americans Who Gave the Most in 2007."[21]
• In 2008, Sanford founded the Sanford Harmony Program in Arizona State University's T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics. The San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla, California received $30 million, changing its name to the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine.
• In 2009, Sanford made a $6 million donation to help fund the TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota's campus.[22] Sanford also gave $100 million to create a breast cancer foundation in memory of his mother, Edith Sanford. The University of Minnesota accepted a $6 million donation to name the athletic hall of fame within TCF Bank Stadium for Sanford.[23]
• In 2010, Sanford's gift to Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College established the Sanford Inspire Program for teacher preparation at Arizona State University. ASU and National University housed the program concurrently until 2017, after which it was hosted exclusively by National University. The Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, California, and Orlando, Florida, received $50 million in 2010, which was followed by a name change to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
• Sanford was named Philanthropist of the Year in 2011 by the Arizona State University Alumni Association.
• In 2013, Physics Today reported that Sanford gave $70 million to a physics lab in the defunct Homestake Mine in South Dakota, renamed the Sanford Underground Research Facility.[24][25] The University of California, San Diego also announced a $100 million gift from Sanford for the creation of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UCSD, the second-largest donation in the university's history.[26] Sanford pledged $10 million to the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota following a $10 million matching pledge made by Sanford in 2007.[27]
• In 2014, Sanford gave $125 million to Sanford Health to create the Imagenetics program.[28] Sanford also gave $1 million to National University to create the Sanford Education Center.[29] He later founded The Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, California that same month via a $28 million donation to the National University System for initiatives within the Sanford Education Center.[30] The National University's School of Education was renamed the Sanford College of Education following the donation.[31] The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center built in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is also named after donations from Sanford.[32]
• In 2018, Sanford founded an endowment within the Horatio Alger Fund of $30 million for college scholarships to students who have faced significant financial or healthcare obstacles in their education.[33] Sanford also donated $30 million toward a remodeling of the San Diego Children's Zoo.[34]
• In 2019, Sanford donated $350 million to National University in addition to $150 million he had given previously. In honor of the donation, National University has changed its name to Sanford National University.[35] However, the name changed was later suspended after the Sanford came under investigation in a child pornography case.[36]

• List of people from South Dakota
• List of University of Minnesota people