Jake Garn was born in Richfield, Utah.  He attended Utah public schools and is a graduate of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking and Finance.

In 1957 he married the late Hazel Thompson and they had four children:  Jake, Jr., Susan, Ellen and Jeffrey.  In 1977 he married Kathleen Brewerton who had a son, Brook, from a previous marriage.  They have a son, Matthew, and a daughter, Jennifer, and seventeen grandchildren.

He served in the U.S. Navy as a pilot.  He is a retired Brigadier General in the Utah Air National Guard and has logged more than 12,000 hours of pilot time.  He is a former insurance executive and served as Mayor of Salt Lake City prior to his election to the United States Senate in 1974.  He served six years as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.  He was a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and served as Chairman for six years of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Subcommittee.  He also served on the subcommittees on Energy and Water Development, Defense, Military Construction and Interior.  He was a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and served on three subcommittees:  Public Lands, National Parks and Forests; Research and Development; and Water and Power.  He also was a member of the Senate Rules Committee and served three terms as Secretary of the Republican Conference.  As Senator, he was re-elected to a second term in 1980 and a third term in 1986 with 74% of the vote in each election.

In November of 1984 Senator Garn was invited by NASA to fly as a payload specialist on flight 51-D of the space shuttle Discovery.  During the seven-day mission, he performed various medical tests.  Discovery Flight 51-D landed at Cape Canaveral on April 19, 1985 after orbiting the earth 109 times.  In December of 1992, Senator Garn received the very prestigious aviation award, the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy.

Mr. Garn retired on January 3, 1993, from the United States Senate after three terms (eighteen years) to return to Utah and is currently a self-employed consultant.  He serves on the Boards of the National Air & Space Museum (Washington, DC), and United Space Alliance (Houston)  He is also involved with numerous local private/public sector endeavors that include Escrow Bank USA, BMW Bank of North America, Headwaters Incorporated,  Franklin Covey and NuSkin Enterprises, Inc.