Palmer DePaulis presented with Career Humanitarian Award at Utah Philanthropy Day

Friday, Nov. 21, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — At a sold-out event Nov. 13, seven Utahns were recognized at the Utah Philanthropy Day luncheon, sponsored by the Utah Society of Fund Raisers and the Utah Nonprofits Association. Among those recognized was Palmer DePaulis, a member of the Catholic Community Services Board of Trustees, whose extensive government service includes seven years as mayor of Salt Lake City.

Hundreds if not thousands of people have benefitted from DePaulis’ 30-plus years of public service and “now live in safe, affordable housing, have access to needed services for themselves and their families, and live in a better community because of Palmer’s efforts to be inclusive rather than exclusive,” according to the award presentation.

After serving as mayor from 1985 to 1991, DePaulis was appointed to various positions by Utah’s governors; he retired last year as the executive director of the Utah Department of Human Services. Shortly afterward he accepted a seat on the CCS board.

DePaulis brings a “wealth of knowledge, experience and practicality” in dealing with government agencies, nonprofits and the population that CCS serves, said Bradford Drake, CCS executive director.

“He is a man of great compassion, wisdom and ability to make things happen,” Drake added. 

Helping the less fortunate is “part of your value system; it goes right back to your faith and to your own sense of how you were raised in your faith community,” said DePaulis, a Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center parishioner who attended Catholic grammar school and entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, Mich. as a sophomore in high school and continued there through his college years.

In seminary, what Jesus tried to do in his own time “became real for me, and I think that drove a lot of my own values,” DePaulis said. “If you’re not concerned about those kinds of things, those values, those faith experiences, then I think you’ve missed the boat entirely.”

With that mindset, when confronted as mayor with issues concerning the community’s most vulnerable people, “that wasn’t something I could ignore,” he said, so he attempted “to make sure that the folks … with the least resources or the most vulnerable, those who had suffered the most trauma in their lives, could have some way – with support from the community and our church and political systems – to have a chance to get back on their feet and solve some of these problems, with our support.” 

DePaulis was instrumental in developing emergency shelter efforts for the homeless, and supported development of housing for the homeless such as Grace Mary Manor, according to the Utah Philanthropy Day presentation; he currently chairs the Long Range Planning Committee in Salt Lake County and serves on other committees that work to develop services for the homeless and other vulnerable people.

The governors that he worked for “were very gracious to give me the time to devote to” issues of the homeless, the mentally ill, immigrants and others in need, DePaulis said. 

Although he is retired, he continues to serve on various boards because “what I want to keep doing in my life is trying to continue to help provide support for those who need it the most,” he said. “That’s something I see as consistent with my faith background and consistent with what I think a good well-balanced community should do.”

DePaulis is worthy of the Career Humanitarian Award, said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City. “He has been a dedicated, committed and compassionate servant of our community for many years. I know that he would be the first to say that he has had the help of many over the years who assist him in his many fine works, but he has been a strong leader on several fronts as we try to serve the most vulnerable in Utah. May God bless Palmer, and may this award be a fitting tribute to him, one that gives him much satisfaction and fulfillment.”