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Utah’s ‘Mr. Liquor,’ who helped modernize alcohol laws while also keeping the Mormon population happy, dies at 82

Every day, during his 30 years as executive director of the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Kenneth Wynn walked a fine line — always working to provide alcohol for legal adults, while appeasing the state’s predominantly Mormon population, which is taught to abstain from liquor.

With a no-nonsense attitude, a sharp sense of humor and an uncanny ability to mediate both sides of a hot-button issue, Wynn — who died Saturday at 82 — was often referred to as Utah’s “Mr. Liquor."

Born on May 24, 1936, in Thermopolis Wyo., Wynn was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.