T. Denny Sanford

A businessman and philanthropist from South Dakota, T. Denny Sanford is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United National Corp., and has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. He began building his fortune as the owner of First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, both belong to the leading credit card providers in the United States.

Thomas Denny Sanford was born on December 23, 1935 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota in 1958 with a degree in psychology. The richest person in South Dakota, he is infamous in the business world for the credit cards issued by First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard. They offer low-limit Mastercards and Visas to credit-impaired customers, and charge higher-than-average interest rates and fees. These cards carried fees of $256 a year until the federal law banned these types of fees in the credit card business.

Despite his predatory business tactics, Sanford is a known philanthropist, and has donated an estimated $550 million to several charitable institutions over the course of his career. Most of his charitable donations are intended toward organizations. The Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota will be named for him.

In 2003, Sanford and the University of Minnesota announced that he would donate $35 million for the proposed new football stadium for the Minnesota Gophers football team. However, the deal did not push through after the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on terms of the funding.

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