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Claudia S. Luttrell and Mark S. Skaggs greet well-wishers at the vigil service for their father, Lennie Sam Skaggs Jr., March 26 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

SALT LAKE CITY — Lennie Sam Skaggs Jr., who contributed financially to every Utah Catholic school either personally or through a foundation he created, died March 21 of causes incident to age. He was 89.

Skaggs, a member of one of the West’s pioneering retail families, became president and CEO of Payless Drug Stores after his father’s death in 1950. Over the next 45 years he built the chain he inherited into American Stores Company, which had more than $20 billion in sales by the time he retired in 1993.

Skaggs was a well-known philanthropist, contributing to many charitable organizations, including the Catholic Church.

"The Catholic diocese in the state of Utah has had some tremendous benefactors over the years, and each benefactor needs to be judged according to the time and circumstances," said Diocese of Salt Lake City Vicar General emeritus Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, mentioning Irene Sweeney and Lula Enid Barr Cosgriff, who he said were "giants in terms of their contributions and so generous."

However, "when it comes to Mr. Skaggs, his ability to provide financial assistance for good projects surpassed anyone we’ve ever had in the history of the Catholic diocese," said Msgr. Fitzgerald, who worked closely with Skaggs to build Juan Diego Catholic High School and Saint John the Baptist Elementary School in Draper. Skaggs also donated the land for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church; the 57-acre campus that encompasses the church and schools is known as the Skaggs Catholic Center.

At the March 26 vigil service for Skaggs in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Dr. Galey Colosimo, principal of Juan Diego Catholic High School, reminisced about proposing sites for what would become the future Skaggs Catholic Center. The diocesan team presented to Skaggs parcels of five to 10 acres in size, and "when we finished our presentation, hopeful that he would fund the purchase of any of the land we proposed, he said, ‘You can’t build a school on any of those parcels of land! You need 60 acres.’"

Skaggs committed $60 million to purchase the land and build the schools, Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "He was meticulous in wanting everything of top quality, and he gave us a lot of freedom to build as we wanted."

In addition to his generosity to Catholic schools, Skaggs and his wife, Aline, contributed to various universities, six of which named either their pharmacy school or a building within their pharmacy school after them. The couple also built Mater Dei Catholic High School three miles from the Mexican border in California, and created various scholarship programs for minority and poor students.

"Mr. Skaggs made sure that his funds went to causes that would help improve the state of people, and he established foundations that will continue to perpetrate his generosity over the years," Msgr. Fitzgerald said.

In a few weeks, Utah will see one more example of Skaggs’ commitment to education: the unveiling of the L.S. Skaggs Pharmacy Research Institute at the University of Utah. David Maher, retired vice chairman and chief operating officer of American Stores Company, recently toured the new facility with Skaggs.

Speaking at the vigil service, Maher said he could tell from the look in Skaggs’ eyes that he was thinking "not ‘how beautiful is this building’ – because it is exceptionally beautiful – but ‘what is this building going to do for generations of research and people to bring medicines and cures to people in this country and throughout the world?’"

Skaggs was raised as a Baptist and converted to Catholicism in 1995, but even before then he contributed to Catholic causes in Utah, including Catholic Community Services’ Weigand Center and the Saint Vincent de Paul dining hall, Msgr. Fitzgerald said.

Primarily, though, the diocese benefited from Skaggs’ support of education.

"He believed that education was the gateway and road to advancement, and that’s why he was especially interested in Catholic schools," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "He thought Catholic schools did a better job at caring for the students."

For example, Skaggs contributed $7.5 million to build Saint Andrew School in Riverton, $2.5 million for the fine arts center at Saint Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden, $2.5 million for the new addition at Saint Marguerite School in Tooele, and the Vivian Skaggs Armstrong Foundation for Catholic and Community Charities provides scholarships for needy or minority students to attend Catholic schools in Utah.

"I would estimate that in the State of Utah Mr. Skaggs has contributed $100 million to the growth of the Catholic Church," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "He really enabled the Catholic Church in Utah to grow and expand in ways that would have been impossible without him in terms of education."

Despite his largesse, not every project got the green light. "Mr. Skaggs would carefully evaluate any need and think about it," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "Sometimes it would be a year before you would hear from him. And he was very hands on. Right up to the end he was hands on."

At the vigil service, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, expressed his condolences personally and on behalf of the diocese to the Skaggs family.

"Mr. Skaggs and his wife, Aline, have been very generous with our diocese, and they have done so in a very quiet and humble way, not seeking any honors," Bishop Wester said. "I cannot begin to tell you how many people have contacted us in the diocese to tell us that they’re praying for Sam and how much Sam and [the family] mean to them. It has just been an overwhelming outpouring of sympathy and condolence and prayer."

Skaggs’ family "meant everything to him," Bishop Wester said, "but Sam ... cared for so many. It’s absolutely impossible to calculate the lives he has touched, is touching and will touch for generations to come.... I think if God is preparing a place for us, then Sam saw himself as a construction worker for God, building for God, creating for God, laying foundations for God."

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 27 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine; a private burial service was planned in Declo, Idaho.