Appearances are often deceiving.
—Aesop

Biography: Sir John Templeton

Standard stock-buying advice is "buy low, sell high." But Templeton took the strategy to an extreme — picking nations, industries and companies hitting rock-bottom "points of maximum pessimism," as he put it. When war began in Europe in 1939, he borrowed money to buy 100 shares in each of 104 companies selling at $1 a share or less, including 34 companies that were in bankruptcy. Only four turned out to be worthless, and he turned large profits on the others after holding each for an average four years.

Templeton launched his flagship fund, Templeton Growth, Ltd. in 1954. Each $100,000 invested then with distribution reinvested grew to total $55 million in 1999. Although he has been a Presbyterian elder active in his denomination and on the boards of Princeton Theological Seminary and the American Bible Society, he espouses a "humble approach" to theology. Declaring that relatively little is known about God through scripture and present-day theology, Templeton once predicted that "scientific revelations may be a goldmine for revitalizing religion in the 21st Century." The John Templeton Foundation donates to many entrepreneurs, trying various methods for over 100 fold more spiritual information, especially through science research to supplement the wonderful ancient scriptures of all religions. For instance, the ambitious Forgiveness Project launched in 1999 sought to fund more than $10 million in research investigating scientific bases for what religious traditions have instinctively thought about the salutary effect of forgiveness on offenders and victims alike.

John M. Templeton was born Nov. 29, 1912, in the small town of Winchester, Tennessee. Blessed with parents who encouraged freedom, the power of prayer, and the exploration of new ideas, Templeton also acquired the ideals of thrift, discipline, and self-sufficiency. An exceptional student, John graduated first in his high school class and was the first in his town to attend college. And not just any college, either; the teenager set his sights on one of the most challenging educational institutions in the country — Yale University. Unfortunately, the Depression took its toll on the family's finances, so the young man tapped into his innate entrepreneurial spirit and determination to pay for tuition, board, and books to complete his college education. Again, his work ethic and focus paid off. Templeton graduated first in his college class. He was named a Rhodes scholar to Balliol 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 maintains 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. Templeton has told interviewers that "competitive business," in his view, matched in many ways the compassionate aims of religious bodies. "For one thing, it enriches the poor more than any other system humanity ever has had," he told Insight magazine. "Competitive business has reduced costs, has increased variety, has improved quality." And if a business is not ethical, he added, "it will fail, perhaps not right away, but eventually."

Typical of Templeton's wide-lens view of spirituality and ethics, the dedicated Presbyterian admits to additional influence from the New Thought movements of Christian Science, Unity and Religious Science. Those metaphysical churches espouse a non-literal view of heaven and hell, and suggest a shared divinity between God and humanity. "We realize that our own divinity arises from something more than merely being 'God's children' or being 'made in his image,'" Templeton wrote. Sir John does not claim credentials as a theologian as much as someone with enough money to stir new research pursuing further "knowledge and love of God."

The annual Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities 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, theoretical physicist Paul Davies, the Reverend Dr. John Polkinghorne, Ian Barbour, and the 2003 winner, Holmes Rolston III. 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." One of Templeton's most recent books, Wisdom from World Religions, assembles spiritual principles from sacred writings and from the teachings of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, Zen and Zoroastrianism. Examples of the wisdom found in this rich resource reflect what Templeton says: "An attitude of gratitude creates blessings. Help yourself by helping others; you have the most powerful weapons on earth — love and prayer."