Photo via counterbalance.net

Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton Prize, dies aged 95

Sir John Templeton, the legendary fund manager and philanthropist, died in a hospital in the Bahamas, according to reports Tuesday. Templeton was 95 years old. The cause of death was pneumonia, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

According to a biography posted to Counterbalance.com, John M. Templeton was born Nov. 29, 1912, in the small town of Winchester, Tennessee.

Forced to live thriftily by supporting himself while studying at Yale University during the Depression, Templeton graduated in 1934 as a top scholar in his class. He was named a Rhodes Scholar to Balloil College at Oxford from which he graduated with a M.A. degree in law.

He married the former Judith Folk in 1937 and the couple had three children -- John, Anne and Christopher. She died in February, 1951. He married Irene Reynolds Butler seven years later on New Year's Eve. She passed away in 1993 after 35 years of marriage.

During a career that included directorships on banks, businesses and insurance companies, Templeton maintained a long association with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He was a trustee on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary, the largest Presbyterian seminary, for 42 years and served as its chair for 12 years. He also lent his business acumen to the Presbyterians' ministerial pension fund for more than three decades until 1993.

Templeton was known for starting mutual funds' annual meetings with a prayer. He explained that the devotional words were not pleas for financial gain in the mundane world, but rather meditations to calm and clear the minds of managers and stockholders.

The annual Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion grew out of the philanthropist's belief that honors equivalent to Nobel Prizes should be bestowed on living innovators in religious action and thought. Mother Teresa of Calcutta received the first prize in 1973. Other winners include evangelist Billy Graham, author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and theoretical physicist Paul Davies, one of several scientists so honored. Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims have been on the panel of judges and have been recipients.

The multi-faith framework of the prize calls for "a clearer acceptance of the diversity of gifts within the major religions of the world," Templeton said in 1972 while inaugurating plans for the awards. "We are indebted to our forefathers who recorded in books their spiritual discoveries and revelations," he said, "Alive today are other persons to whom God is revealing further holy truths."

According to a press release posted to Transworldnews.com, Templeton in 1954 set up the Templeton Growth Fund, one of the first mutual funds that invested globally. Templeton Growth Fund is now the world's largest equity fund. Templeton sold Templeton Funds to Franklin Resources in 1992 for $440 million, renaming the company Franklin Templeton.

In 1968, Templeton renounced his American citizenship to avoid taxes. He had dual naturalized Bahamian and British citizenship and lived in the Bahamas.

Templeton contributed a sizable amount of his fortune to his foundation, the Templeton Foundation. In 1972, the Templeton Foundation began awarding the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities. The foundation, which is ran by his son John Jr., gives its honorees a financial prize of $1.6 million, the largest single annual financial prize award given to an individual for intellectual merit.

In 1984 he endowed the Oxford Centre for Management Studies as a full college, Templeton College, of the University of Oxford, having as a focus business and management studies.

In 1987, he was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for his philanthropic accomplishments.

Rusty Leonard, CFA, Stewardship Partners' founder and CEO made these comments about Templeton: "Sir John was a great man whose life enriched literally millions of others through his wise investment counsel and, more importantly, through his extensive philanthropic efforts.

"I count myself as one of many who had the extraordinary blessing not only to work directly with Sir John, but also to be inspired by him. I have always said that Sir John had an unusual gifting to make people he came in contact with feel better about themselves. Whenever I walked out of his office, I was left feeling that I was somehow better than I actually was!

Leonard continued: "Despite personal tragedy he experienced in his own life with the accidental death of his first wife, he was always a positive force in the lives of others. His unrelenting optimism was contagious and helped fuel the careers of many who worked with him, including my own. I was a just 19-year-old stock broker when I first discovered Sir John and his top performing Templeton Fund. He graciously took time out of his busy day to selflessly visit with me -- a fledgling, unimportant portfolio manager -- and my wife while we were honeymooning in the Bahamas. His many startling innovative ideas about investing and giving that raised my understanding of the many possibilities for progress in both these areas.

"Sir John has long been a blessing to me on both a personal and professional level. I am so very, very thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to learn so much from one of the master artisans of the investment and philanthropic world and am saddened that others now no longer have the same opportunity. It is difficult to imagine how much less interesting my life would have been without the influence of Sir John Templeton and I know that many, many others feel the same way. I am certain, however, that Sir John's influence will actually grow over time as his foundation, under the very capable leadership of his son Jack Templeton, greatly multiplies the positive impact of Sir John's ideas on our world."

Leonard concluded: "There is so much about our work at Stewardship Partners, the Biblically Responsible Investment Institute and MinistryWatch.com that can be traced to Sir John's influence and inspiration on my life. While Sir John has left us, we will certainly continue to be enriched by the legacy of optimism, progress, innovation and thankfulness that he has left us. A gentle giant has passed from the scene and he will be missed."

TAGS: Sir John Templeton Templeton Prize

[07/10/2008]

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