Joseph Angus Cannon was Chairman of the Utah Republican Party from 2002 to 2006. Cannon was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1992 (defeated by current Senator Robert F. Bennett) and served as an assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1983 - 1985. Joe Cannon is part of the well-known politically powerful Cannon Family of Utah. His brother, Chris Cannon is a Congressman, and he is also the grandson, and great-grandson of Utah Congressmen, and cousin of other Utah Congressmen. Cannon was born in 1949. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Ireland, and also for a time served on the Isle of Man the ancestral homeland of the Cannons. Cannon received a degree in political science, and, in 1977, a law degree, from Brigham Young University. Cannon played a pivotal role in the purchase of Geneva Steel from U.S. Steel in 1987. Subsequent to that transaction, he became Chairman of Geneva Steel. Cannon married Jan Barney, and are the parents of seven chidren.