Mr. Eaton earned his B.A. in Business Administration and Economics from Wheaton College in 1958 and his Doctor in Jurisprudence from Stanford University in 1961. From there, Eaton served in the U.S. Army as Captain, Judge Advocate/General Corps. He started his business career working for Jennings, Strauss & Salmon law offices where he specialized in corporate business matters including sales, mergers and consolidation of corporations; formation of corporations, partnerships and other business entities.

Eaton then worked at Eaton International Corporation where he was responsible for the development of Pagosa Lakes, a 26,000-plus acre community in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. In addition, Eaton was a general partner in both the Phoenix Suns basketball team and the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.