Theodore Richard Stanley (April 26, 1931 – January 3, 2016) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. He co-founded the

Danbury Mint Danbury Mint is a private mint that markets a variety of collectibles. Danbury Mint historically marketed medals and ingots produced by others exclusively for them. The company also sold numerous other collectible offering including plates, bell ...

with business partner Ralph Glendinning, which was then a subsidiary of MBI Inc.

Early life

Stanley was born in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...

, and graduated from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

and was an intelligence officer. Stanley worked for Procter & Gamble in the marketing division in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Business

In 1969 Stanley co-founded the

, which sells collectibles (such as commemorative postage stamps, decorative plates, medals, commemorative coins, and similar items) it has produced for it by mail order. The Mint's first product was a medal series that commemorated the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

first crewed Moon landing. After this, the business continued to expand, enough to make Stanley a

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

during his lifetime.

Connection to mental health

In 1988, Stanley's son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19 after having a psychiatric episode that saw him running around New York streets for 3 days and stripping off his clothes in public. His son was eventually helped with a lithium treatment, and eventually finished college and law school, but during the course of his son's treatment he met many parents who were not so lucky, whose children did not improve after treatment. In response, Stanley started donating to mental health research.

Philanthropy

Stanley died in his sleep in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. About an hour from New York City by train, the town ...

. Before he died, Stanley made a large donation to the

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The institu ...

Cambridge, MA Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 U.S. census was 118, ...

of approximately $650 million for research into genetic markers of mental health. It is recognized as one of the largest private donations ever to support scientific research and the largest ever for mental health research. Before his estates large $650 million donation, which comprised the majority of Stanley's financial holdings, he had periodically donated an additional $175 million, making his lifetime contribution to the Broad Institute $825 million, to support work and research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Ted 1931 births 2016 deaths People from Reading, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania alumni Businesspeople from Pennsylvania American company founders American billionaires 21st-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists