W. Clement Stone

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William Clement Stone (May 4, 1902 – September 3, 2002) was a prominent businessman, philanthropist and self-help book author. Stone is remembered 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.

Stone himself was born in Chicago and was just 3 when his father died. He started his business career at age 6, when he started selling newspapers to help support himself and his mother. At age 16, he journeyed to Detroit to help out his mother at an insurance company she'd opened there. Soon, he was making $100 a week selling casualty insurance. Stone was soon a prime example of a character right out of the Horatio Alger stories, in which poor boys make good.

In the late 1920s, Stone built the Combined Insurance Company of America, and by 1930, he had over 1000 agents selling insurance for him across the United States. By 1979, Stone’s insurance company exceeded $1 billion in assets. His company merged with the Patrick Ryan Group to form the AON Corporation in 1987. Combined Insurance Company is one of AON's largest subsidiaries.

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

Stone's was noted 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. He was also a gifted inspirational speaker, and would shout "Bingo!" at board meetings if attention lapsed. Overall, Mr. Stone's most often used quote was "All I want to do is change the world."

He celebrated his 100th birthday in May 2002 with a gift of $100,000 to the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1980 he received recognition for his philanthropic endeavors in founding the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation. He was also the founder of Religious Heritage of America, a non-profit organization which was influential in getting the phrase, "one nation, under God", added to the US Pledge of Allegiance.

He was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He was also a 33rd degree FreeMason.