Boise, Idaho-An estimated 2,000 Idahoans paid tribute to J.R. Simplot, the state’s wealthiest resident and the nation’s oldest billionaire, at a special multimedia memorial at the Qwest Arena in Boise on Sunday, June 1. Simplot was 99 when he died at his condominium the previous Sunday, seven months shy of turning 100. The Simplot family paid for all the parking garage spaces that day in downtown Boise to enable the public to attend the memorial. After accidentally discovering the benefits of using fertilizer to grow potatoes during the Great Depression and shipping potatoes and onions to U.S. troops during World War II, Simplot built an agribusiness conglomerate based on phosphate fertilizer mining and production, cattle feedlots, and food processing, whose annual revenues approach $4 billion. He also invested more than $20 million to start and maintain Micron Technology, a Boise-based computer memory chip manufacturer that is Idaho’s largest private employer and taxpayer. Scott Simplot, a son who was named chairman of the J.R. Simplot Company on June 2, said his father’s estate will be divided among heirs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the J.R. Simplot Foundation, which has assets of $135 million, making it Idaho’s second largest charitable institution. Scott Simplot is only the second chairman of the company. J.R. Simplot stepped down as chairman in 1994, when three of his children and a grandchild shared the chairmanship. The Simplot family may develop a few blocks in downtown Boise into a Simplot Agriculture Museum to display J.R. Simplot’s multi-million-dollar collection of antique farm equipment as a tribute to Idaho’s agricultural roots. Twenty-seven McDonald’s fast food outlets in the Treasure Valley gave away free french fries on Monday, June 2, in honor of Simplot, who pioneered frozen french fries and provided McDonald’s with most of its fries. The Simplot family said it does not know what happened to J.R. Simplot’s signature cowboy hat that was included in a floral centerpiece on stage at the memorial. It disappeared after the service. He is survived by his wife, four children, 18 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild, born a few weeks before his death.
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