Donald Gary Young

Donald Gary Young
Young in November 2010
Born	ca. 1950
Residence	Lehi, Utah
Nationality	American
Occupation	Former CEO of Young Living, writer
Spouse(s)	Mary Young
Website	www.dgaryyoung.com

Donald Gary Young is an American businessman who is the founder, president and former CEO of Young Living, a Utah-based multi-level marketing company that offers essential oils and related products.

Young was born around 1950. In his late teens, Young moved to Canada with the intention of homesteading in British Columbia. At the age of 24, he suffered a near–fatal logging accident, and was confined to a wheelchair for a time. While rehabilitating, he began studying alternative medicine, which, eventually, led him to start using essential oils in an effort to relieve his pain.

In the early 1980s, Young briefly studied therapeutic massage, although he did not complete a course of study, but began traveling to different countries to study essential oils. In early 1983 when Young was 33 years old, an undercover Washington State police officer approached Young about performing an underwater birth, as part of an effort to "police all registered professions". Young refused, but offered prenatal care and alternative treatment for her dying mother, whom she said suffering from cancer. He was arrested for practicing medicine without a license, leading to a misdemeanor conviction.

As of 1986, Young was running a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, called the Rosarita Beach Clinic, where he offered a "Blood Crystallization Test", "Orthomolecular Cell Therapy," laetrile, and a procedure in which electrical current was run through blood taken from a person and then infused back into them, along with other naturopathy treatments for diseases like lupus and cancer.

In 1989, Young started cultivating plants in Spokane, Washington and built two distillation units. In 1993, he founded Young Living Essential Oils in Riverton, Utah. Young later moved the company to Lehi, Utah, and focused on employing methods of harvesting and extraction that the company says were used in Biblical times. In 2015 he stepped down as CEO and his wife took over the role.