Spencer Fox Eccles was born August 24, 1934 in Ogden, Utah. He is the son of Spencer Stoddard Eccles and Pauline Hope Fox, and the grandson of David Eccles—a Utah banker and industrialist. Spencer F. Eccles is a prominent financier and philanthropist in Salt Lake City, Utah and chairman emeritus of the Intermountain Region of Wells Fargo Corporation. He earned a Bachelor of Science in finance in 1956 from the University of Utah, where he was also a member of Beta Theta Pi, and a master of business administration in 1958 from Columbia University School of Business.

While at the University of Utah, Eccles was a nationally ranked slalom skier competing on the University of Utah Ski Team. In addition to his work in finance, Eccles was the director of the Alta Ski Corporation, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and the National Parks Foundation. He was a member of the three-person executive committee of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee and, in recognition of his critical contribution to the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake, was appointed mayor of the Olympic Village during the games and received the Pierre de Coubertin medal from the International Olympic Committee.