Stone, W Clement

▪ 2003

      American businessman and philanthropist (b. May 4, 1902, Chicago, Ill.—d. Sept. 3, 2002, Evanston, Ill.), made a fortune in insurance but became better known for promoting his philosophy of success and for his support of political and social causes. He espoused what he called P.M.A. (positive mental attitude) as the key to achievement and wealth. A major contributor to the 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns of Richard M. Nixon, he also supported philanthropic causes such as mental health and youth welfare. Following the Watergate Scandal (1972–75), Stone's large contributions to Nixon were sometimes cited as an example of the need for campaign finance reform. Stone's father died when he was three years old, leaving the family impoverished, and at the age of six the boy began selling newspapers. By age 13 he had his own newsstand, and three years later he moved to Detroit to help his mother in an insurance agency. He dropped out of school, although he later received a diploma from a YMCA high school. In 1922 he opened his own agency in Chicago, the Combined Insurance Company of America, selling accident and life insurance, and by 1930 he had employed some 1,000 agents across the U.S. Over the years he bought additional companies, merging them with Combined, and in 1982 he merged his company with the Ryan Insurance Group, renaming the new firm Aon Corp. in 1987. With Napoleon Hill he developed a lecture series and the magazine Success Unlimited, and the two also wrote the book Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960). Among Stone's other books was The Success System That Never Fails (1962). He expected his employees to join with him in beginning each day with “I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel ter-r-r-ific!”

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