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Eldon John Gardner was born June 5, 1909, in Logan, Utah, the eldest child of John William and Cynthia Eveline Hill Gardner. He spent the first year of his life in Salt lake City, where his father was a graduate student at the University of Utah. From 1910-1913, the Gardner family resided in Palo Alto and Berkeley, California, where John Gardner studied law at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. In 1913, John Gardner accepted a teaching position at the Brigham Young College, and the Gardner family settled in Logan, Utah.

In 1929, Eldon Gardner left Logan to serve a mission in California for the L.D.S. church. Returning in 1931, he enrolled at Utah State University where he received both his bachelor of science (1934) and master of science (1935) degrees in zoology. In 1939 he received a doctorate in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he became the first graduate student in America to study under the distinguished German geneticist, Dr. Richard Goldschmidt. While in Berkeley, Gardner became acquainted with fellow classmate, Helen Richards. Eldon and Helen were married in August of 1939 and had six children: Patricia, Donald, Betty, Cynthia, Alice, and Mary Jane.

From 1939-1946, Gardner taught biology at Salinas Junior College in California. During the summers, he was employed as assistant, and later associate geneticist, for the Guayule Rubber Plant Industry, an effort to produce a domestic rubber supply during World War Two.

Gardner returned to Utah in 1946 as assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah. There he began his research into the genetics of abnormal head growths in drosophila melanogaster, and became involved in breast cancer research at the Laboratory of Human Genetics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1947.

Gardner left the university in 1949 to accept an appointment as professor of zoology at Utah State University. After serving in that capacity for many years, he was appointed dean of the newly created College of Science in 1962. The same year, he was named program director of Utah State University's Genetics Training Program, funded by the National Institutes of Health. In 1967, Gardner was named dean of the college of graduate studies at Utah State University, and seven years later, upon his mandatory retirement at age 65, he was named professor of biology emeritus.

Dr. Gardner's academic activities extended beyond the classroom and the laboratory. His first textbook. Genetics Laboratory Investigations, was published in 1952. An eighth edition was released in 1984, with plans for a ninth. In 1960, Principles of Genetics was first published, followed by History of Biology in 1965. General Zoology in 1967, and Human Heredity in 1983.

In addition to his work as an educator, Eldon Gardner was deeply involved in research. He began studying the genetics of cancer in humans in 1948 with a grant from the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1958, as a result of this research, Dr. William G. Smith of the Mayo Clinic named the syndrome described in the Utah family under study the "Gardner Syndrome." Furthermore, Gardner is regarded as an authority in the study of the genetics and cytology of the tumerous head syndrome in drosophila melanogaster, and for his studies into the genetic basis of colorectal cancer in Utah families.

Dr. Gardner's interests and activities were restricted to the field of genetics. He joined the Boy Scouts of America as a child, eventually gaining the rank of senior scout. As an adult, he served as a member of the Logan City School Board (1962-1963), the Logan chapter of the Rotary Club, and as a director of the Cache County Chamber of Commerce (1972-1975).

Always active in religious affairs, Gardner served in numerous positions of leadership in the L.D.S. church. Sunday school superintendent and stake board member, branch president, high council member, high priest group leader, and bishop are among the many offices he has held. Well known for his involvement in the controversy between the theory of evolution and the biblical account of creation, Gardner wrote many articles and became a popular speaker on the subject at religious gatherings. In 1960 he published Organic Evolution and the Bible, followed by a sequel in 1962, Mechanics of Organic Evolution.