Company Description:

Our Founder William Clement Stone

Born May 4, 1902 in Chicago, Illinois, W. (William) Clement Stone got his first job at the age of six - selling the Examiner newspaper on the city's south side. By the time he was 13, he was running his own newsstand.

In 1919, Mr. Stone opened an insurance agency with his mother in Detroit, Michigan, but Chicago called him home. In 1922, he borrowed $100 and moved back to his birthplace where he launched the Combined Registry Company.

Through the crash of the stock market and the subsequent Great Depression, Mr. Stone and his company persevered. He used these years to create his "blueprint for success," a training system for field sales agents to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Mr. Stone went on to be extremely successful expanding his company around the globe.

Mr. Stone led a successful personal life as well. In 1923, just one year after returning to Chicago, he married his high school sweetheart Jessie Verna Tarson and in time had three children.

Beyond his insurance industry success, Mr. Stone is best known for making PMA or Positive Mental Attitude a household term writing and co-writing books incorporating the subject and its application to become successful. He was a firm believer in starting every day with "I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel terrific!"

One of Mr. Stone's most notable quotes was, "All I want to do is change the world, that's all. Make it a better world for this and future generations." So, in 1958 on his 56th birthday, he and his wife formed the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, which today distributes more than $ 2 million in grants annually primarily in the areas of early childhood development, youth development and education. In recognition of his work to help others, Mr. Stone was nominated by President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger for the 1981 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Stone died in September 2002 at the age of 100, but his legacy continues in the form of Combined Insurance Company.