D. James Cannon, husband of former Young Women Gen. Pres. Elaine Cannon, died March 5, 1998, in Salt Lake City after an 18-year illness. He was 78. He founded the Mormon Trail Association in 1967 and was instrumental in the organization of the Mormon Pioneer Centennial and its cross-country trail designation in 1947. He was a former executive director for the Utah Travel Council; he invented a now-famous Utah slogan, "The Greatest Snow on Earth," and also named Lake Powell.
He was instrumental in saving the historic LDS Seventies Council Hall building in Salt Lake City by having it restored near the Utah State Capitol and in preserving Salt Lake City's Sugar House Park. He wrote the history of Sugar House and was a former staff member of the Deseret News, where he wrote weekly tourism articles about Utah. He was a consultant for the Deseret News,Robert Redford Enterprises at Sundance and for the Bank of Salt Lake. He headed the U.S. Travel Association, Utah Trade Association and the Salt Lake County Planning and Zoning Commission. He served several terms as a representative in the Utah Legislature and had been a candidate for Utah governor in 1964 and Salt Lake mayor in 1967. He was honored in 1994 with a merit award from the University of Utah, where he graduated in 1940.
