W. Clement Stone

William Clement Stone (May 4,1902 – September 3,2002) was a prominentFact|date=September 2008 businessman, philanthropist and self-help book author. Stone is rememberedWho|date=September 2008 for contributing $2 million to President Richard Nixon's election campaigns in 1968 and 1972—these were cited in Congressional debates after Watergate to institute campaign spending limits.Fact|date=September 2008

Early life

Stone himself was born in Chicago and was three-years-old when his father died. He began his business career at age six, when he started selling newspapers to help support himself and his mother.Fact|date=September 2008 At age 16, he journeyed to Detroit to help out his mother at an insurance company she'd opened there.Fact|date=September 2008 SoonSpecify|date=September 2008, he was making $100 a week selling casualty insurance.Fact|date=September 2008 Stone was soon a prime exampleFact|date=September 2008 of a character right out of the Horatio Alger stories, in which poor boys make good.

Work

In 1919, Stone built the Combined Insurance Company of America, and, by 1930, he had over 1000 agents selling insurance for him across the United States.Fact|date=September 2008 By 1979, Stone’s insurance company exceeded $1 billion in assets.Fact|date=September 2008 His company merged with the Patrick Ryan Group to form the Aon Corporation in 1987.Fact|date=September 2008 Combined Insurance Company was one of Aon's largest subsidiaries until sold to ACE Limited in April 2008.Fact|date=September 2008

Books

Above allDubious|date=September 2008, Stone emphasized using a "positive mental attitude" to make money for him and for millions of people who read his books.Fact|date=September 2008 In 1960, Stone teamed up with Napoleon Hill to author "Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude".Fact|date=September 2008 The two also founded a monthly digest magazine, entitled "Success Unlimited".Fact|date=September 2008 Two years later, Stone, by himself, wrote the "Success System That Never Fails", in which he told his secretsDubious|date=September 2008 to becoming wealthy and having a healthy, productive lifestyle.Fact|date=September 2008 In 1964, he and Norma Lee Brown collaborated on writing "The Other Side of the Mind".Fact|date=September 2008

Philanthropy

Stone was notedWho|date=September 2008 for his striking appearance, with his pencil-thin black mustache, vibrant suspenders, polka-dot bow ties and spats, as well as his charitable endeavors of over $275 million to mental health and Christian organizations.Fact|date=September 2008 He was also a giftedDubious|date=September 2008 inspirational speaker, and would shout "Bingo!" at board meetings if attention lapsed.Fact|date=September 2008 Mr. Stone's most oftenFact|date=September 2008 used quote was "All I want to do is change the world."Fact|date=September 2008

Among his philanthropic activities, notableDubious|date=September 2008 was his long-time support of the Boys Clubs of America (now Boys and Girls Clubs of America), of which he was at one time the National Board Chairman.Fact|date=September 2008 The Jessie V. and W. Clement Stone Foundation quietlyDubious|date=September 2008 provided for the college scholarships - requiring little more than diligence and good citizenshipFact|date=September 2008 - of many individuals through the years. One such recipient, Elliott Stonecipher, now a Louisiana-based political and demographic analyst, described his lone meeting, at age 16, with Stone as, "... astounding at the time, and increasingly remarkable ever since."Fact|date=September 2008 Stonecipher received a no-questions-askedWho|date=September 2008 full college scholarship from Stone after the benefactor heard and was impressed by an emotion-ladenDubious|date=September 2008 speech the teen gave in Macon, Georgia, in 1967, detailing the "life-saving" role the Boys Club had played in his life.Fact|date=September 2008 "Clement Stone spoke to me, briefly, twice. Once was after my speech, as he sat beside me, just to confirm that I had no certain way to pay for college. The second was a brief phone call a year later to apologize for the delay of delivery to him of the letter he had requested of me. A full-tuition check arrived in my name at college for four years, until my graduation, but I never again heard from him or his staff. My unsolicited letters to him over the years, to report major events in my life, were sufficient communication." Stonecipher described the experience with Stone as " ... among the most quietly powerful, important and remarkable of my life, or - I am certain - any other life."Fact|date=September 2008

Stone also was a belovedDubious|date=September 2008 trustee of the Interlochen Center for the Arts.Fact|date=September 2008 In addition to writing blank checks, Stone served as president of the Board of Trustees for several years and remained an Honorary Trustee after officially leaving the Board.Fact|date=September 2008 Several buildings at the center are named for him and his wife [Interlochen Campus Map [http://www.interlochen.org/download_file.php?filename=interlochencampusmap.pdf] ] .

Stone celebrated his 100th birthday in May 2002 with a gift of $100,000 to the University of Illinois at Chicago.Fact|date=September 2008 In 1980 he received recognition for his philanthropic endeavors in founding the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation.Fact|date=September 2008 Stone founded Religious Heritage of America, a non-profit organization which was influentialDubious|date=September 2008 in getting the phrase, "one nation, under God", added to the US Pledge of Allegiance.Fact|date=September 2008 Stone provided much of the initial funding for the self-help organization, GROW.cite book | author = Keogh, C.B. | authorlink = Cornelius Keogh |url = http://publishing.yudu.com/Freedom/Actiz/GROWcomesofageaceleb/resources/ | title = GROW Comes of Age: A Celebration and a Vision! | year = 1979 | publisher = GROW Publications | location = Sydney, Australia | isbn = 0909114013 | oclc = 27588634] Stone was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, and was a 33rd degree FreeMason.Fact|date=September 2008

References