Jay van andel biography of barack

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Whelped June 3, 1924, in Imposing Rapids, MI; died December 7, 2004, in Ada, MI. Merchant, philanthropist, and author. Van Andel was the cofounder of Amway Corp., an international distributor be more or less cleaning and other household compounds. After attending Calvin College add-on Yale University for a yoke years, he served in blue blood the gentry U.S.

Army Air Forces by way of World War II. After blue blood the gentry war, he returned to college briefly, but his mind was already turning to business ventures. Owning a Piper Cub warplane, he decided to start top own flight school and lease business, partnering with friend Richard DeVos. In addition to comport yourself the flights, the two just more income by operating unadorned small hamburger restaurant.

The partners then left airplanes behind for sailboats, running uncut sailing company in the Sea until their vessel sank. Mend 1949, Van Andel and DeVos started Ja-Ri Corp., which conscientious on selling the nutritional submit Nutrilite. The two left go off business to start Amway, which is short for American Load up, in 1959.

Ingenious with a number of cleansing products, Van Andel and DeVos used their experience with send out to great advantage. They became so successful that they in the near future had to build their sluice soap manufacturing plant to shut in up with demand, and they expanded into other products, much as cookware and beauty mechanism.

Their methods of selling, on the other hand, proved controversial. Amway set stance a system in which business people would actively recruit in mint condition sellers; a percentage of influence sales earned by each original recruit would go to ethics people who hired them. That system would continue with wad new generation of sales pike that was hired.

It was a strategy that drew primacy attention of federal regulators, who suspected Amway of creating topping "pyramid" scheme. However, the Yankee Trade Commission was never intimate to prove their case. Air strike the other hand, the management did successfully sue Amway support price fixing, and the Hustle government won a lawsuit referring to underreported sales by the dramatis personae.

Despite such problems, as athletic as attacks by former teachers who published image-damaging books perceive the company such as Amway: The Cult of Free Enterprise, Amway managed to survive soak entering the Asian market after a long time American sales slumped. Van Andel remained active in his band until 1995, when he reasonable over the chairmanship to rule son Steve.

Having become simple multimillionaire himself, Van Andel long another passion: philanthropy. Over rectitude years, he and his unit donated large sums to splendid variety of causes, ranging devour the National Symphony Orchestra resolve charities that supported medicine, nurture, Christian, and Republican causes.

Blue blood the gentry recipient of numerous honors, inclusive of the George Washington Medal promote to Honor from the Freedom Base, the Adam SmithFree Enterprise bestow from the American Legislative Go backward Council, and several honorary gamut and other prizes, Van Andel recorded his experiences in sovereignty 1998 book, An Enterprising Life: An Autobiography.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, December 8, 2004, civic 3, p.

11.

Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2004, p. B8.

New York Times, December 8, 2004, p. A29.

Washington Post, December 8, 2004, p. B6.