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William Clement Stone (May 4, 1902 – September 3, 2002) was a businessman, philanthropist and New Thought self-help book author. ==Biography== He was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 1902. His father died in 1905 leaving his family in debt. In 1908 he hawked newspapers on the South Side of Chicago, while his mother worked as a dressmaker. By 1915 he owned his own newsstand. In 1918 he moved to Detroit to sell casualty insurance for his mother.〔 Stone dropped out of high school to sell insurance full-time. He later received a diploma from the Young Men's Christian Association Central High School in Chicago. He later took courses at Detroit College of Law and Northwestern University.〔 Much of what is known about W. Clement Stone comes from his autobiography ''The Success System That Never Fails''. In that book, he tells of his early business life which started with the selling of newspapers in restaurants. At the time, this was a very novel thing to do, which deviated dramatically from the normal practice of young boys hawking newspapers on street corners. At first, the managers of restaurants tried to discourage him from this practice, but he gradually won them over, due in part to his politeness, charm, persistence and the fact that by and large, the patrons of the restaurants had no objection to this new way of selling his newspapers. From there he graduated to selling insurance policies very successfully in the offices of downtown businesses. His mother was the initiator of his new career, and together they did quite well, she as the manager of the business, and he as the salesperson. Stone ran $100 into millions with a strong desire to succeed and by putting into practice the principles in the book ''Think and Grow Rich'' by Napoleon Hill.〔〔Hill, Napoleon, 1960, ''Think and Grow Rich''. (front cover page ), Fawcett Books, New York, ISBN 0-449-21492-3〕〔http://financialsoftware.com/afforgs/documents/Vol7Issue8_000.pdf〕 He was the living example of the proverbial rags-to-riches protagonist in Horatio Alger's stories he loved so much. Eventually he became an 'angel' to others lifting some from the gutter, to incredible heights. One of his great successes was Og Mandino, an alcoholic at the time whom Stone took under his wing. The relationship engendered a new life for Mandino who became the publisher of ''Success Magazine'' at the time. In 1978 Stone met an aggressive young securities broker named Christopher Nolan and recruited him to become his Director of Education for the Entrepreneurship Forums. These forums were created by Stone to educate aspiring business owners in developing new business in Chicago. In 1919, Stone built the Combined Insurance Company of America (a company providing accident and health insurance coverage) and by 1930 he had over a thousand agents selling insurance for him across the United States.〔 By 1979, Stone’s insurance company exceeded $1 billion in assets. Combined later merged with the Ryan Insurance Group to form Aon Corporation in 1987.,〔 and Combined was later spun off by Aon to ACE Limited in April 2008 for $2.56 billion. Stone contributed up to $10 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.〔 According to Tim Weiner, in his thoroughly documented book One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon, in 1972, president Nixon’s lawyer, Herbert Kalmbach, helped raise money for Nixon’s presidential campaign by selling ambassadorships to large donors, one of whom was “W. Clement Stone, () pledged $3 million. Unfortunately, Stone wanted London, which already was occupied by Ambassador Walter Annenberg, who gave $254,000 in order to stay on” (p. 160). A proponent of the motivational book ''Think and Grow Rich'' by Napoleon Hill, Stone associated with Hill to teach the ''Philosophy of Personal Achievement'' “Science of Success" course. Stone wrote: "One of the most important days in my life was the day I began to read ''Think and Grow Rich'' in 1937.〔Hill, Napoleon, 1990, ''The Think and Grow Rich Action Pack'', Plume, ISBN 0-452-26660-2〕 Stone said that the Bible was “the world's greatest self-help book".〔(Improve Your Thinking )〕 Stone explained the importance of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) in his last interview not long before dying. Stone said: "A positive mental attitude is necessary for achieving worthwhile success. We in America know what it is for us, for we have inherited the tenets of the Judeo-Christian faiths on which our Constitution, laws and customs have been based...Strive to understand and apply the Golden Rule...Believe that any goal that doesn’t violate the laws of God or the rights of your fellow men can be achieved". "I attended one of the PMA rallies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1976. I'll never forget Stone, the MC of the event; and how he leapt on the stage, grabbed the microphone and shouted: I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific! It gave me goosebumps. At the time, he was 74 years old; and possessed the energy of a man in his thirties." ~ M.L. Harris, author.〔 He died on September 3, 2002 in Evanston, Illinois. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「W. Clement Stone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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