Jay Van Andel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jay Van Andel (born June 3, 1924 in Grand Rapids , Michigan , † December 4, 2004 ) was an American businessman and co-founder of the direct selling company Amway .

He was also known throughout his life for his religious and political endeavors. At the time of his passing in 2004, Forbes magazine valued him with a personal fortune of US $ 2.3 billion, ranking him 231st on the list of the richest people.

Life and family

From 1942 to 1945 he served as a First Lieutenant in the US Air Force. In 1948 he sold his flight school, flight charter service and drive-in restaurant to finance an adventure trip to South America and the Caribbean. In 1949 he founded the Ja-Ri Corporation with Rich DeVos , which sold vitamins and nutritional supplements from the Californian company Nutrilite . In 1952 he married Betty Hoekstra in Grand Rapids. Jay Van Andel had two sons (Steve and David) and two daughters (Nan and Barb) with his wife Betty, and ten grandchildren at the time of his death. In 1959 he founded Amway with Rich DeVos. His wife died on January 18, 2004 at their home on Peter Island in the Caribbean. His wife suffered from Alzheimer's disease and he from Parkinson's disease .

Amway

Van Andel co-founded Amway with Rich DeVos in 1959. It was not their first professional adventure, because the two schoolmates (sons of Dutch emigrants) started numerous professional ventures together at a young age. They ran a flight school, a drive-in restaurant (the first in Grand Rapids) and the Ja-Ri Corporation. With the Ja-Ri Corporation they made their first experiences in network marketing , a possibility to build up sales networks through personal contacts. Ultimately, they adopted this system idea to found the Amway Corporation. Amway started out as a family business that provided people to work from home and initially only entered the market with one product, a biodegradable household cleaner (LOC).

The company has meanwhile grown to over 13,000 employees and more than 3 million independent business partners (so-called Amway Business Owners, ABO). The parent company Alticor had total sales of US $ 11.8 billion in 2013, with China as the largest market share. In 1979, the two founders won a four-year lawsuit against the charge that Amway was an illegal pyramid scheme.

In 1995, his son Steve Van Andel took over as chairman of the Amway Corporation after his lifelong partner Rich had ceded the presidency of Amway to his son Dick DeVos in 1992.

Merits

The Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation has supported numerous institutions in Grand Rapids, Michigan, primarily in the arts, culture and education. Jay Van Andel was also one of the driving forces behind the redesign of Grand Rapids city center. In 1979 he acquired the Pantlind Hotel , which he expanded and renamed the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel . He supported the construction of a sports and event center with 11.5 million US dollars, which is now called the Van Andel Arena . The Van Andel Museum , as part of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, was created under his leadership and thanks to his significant financial support. In 1980 he founded the Right Place Committee , which wants to motivate companies to stay in Grand Rapids, to secure the location and to preserve and create jobs. Throughout his life, Jay Van Andel was involved in the promotion of education, supported educational institutions financially and stood up for the security of health care and supported the Pine Rest Christian Hospital . In 1983, he set up the Jamestown Foundation , which looked at how the knowledge and talents of immigrants living in the United States could be put to better use. He was also one of the founders of the National Endowment for Democracy , a private, non-profit organization that aimed to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. But he also supported Christian organizations like the Creation Research Station in Arizona , which tried to prove that the world was created in a week.

Offices

Van Andel was President of the US Chamber of Commerce from 1979 to 1980 . Until 1995 he was Chairman of Amway and Chairman of the Amway Environmental Foundation . In 1992, George Bush appointed him Ambassador and General Commissioner of the Genoa International Exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America. He was also the administrator of the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute , Hillsdale College, and the Advisory Council for American Private Education. Jay Van Andel was a valued and respected advisor and friend to numerous international executives, including a. US Presidents Gerald Ford , Ronald Reagan , George Bush and George W. Bush also counted. Van Andel was a member of MENSA .

Van Andel Institute

The independent Van Andel Institute is now one of the world's leading research institutions in the field of biomedicine . It is mainly concerned with researching the genetic and molecular causes of cancer and other diseases, such as Parkinson's. The main aim is to transfer scientific knowledge into clinical applications. It supports science education and motivates individuals to do science or take up scientific professions.

Prices (in selection)

Jay Van Andel has five honorary doctorates, including an honorary degree in science from Michigan State University in 1997.

  • Edison Award (American Marketing Association)
  • Adam Smith Free Enterprise Award (American Legislative Exchange Council)
  • George Washington Honor Medal (Freedoms Foundation)
  • Patron Award (Michigan Foundation for the Arts)
  • Business Person of the Year (1990, Economic Club of Grand Rapids)
  • Direct Selling Association Hall of Fame
  • Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame
  • Sales & Marketing Executives International Academy of Achievement
  • Greater Rapids Business Hall of Fame

Books

Jay Van Andel published the autobiography An Enterprising Life in 1998 .

swell

literature

  • Cross, Wilbur, Gordon Olson: Commitment to Excellence: the Remarkable Amway Story. Benjamin, Elmsford, NY 1986, ISBN 0-87502-136-0 .
  • Sandy Fugate: For the Benefit of All: A History of Philanthropy in Michigan. WK Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek 1997, ISBN 1-891445-00-6 .
  • Jay Van Andel: An Enterprising Life: an Autobiography. HarperBusiness, 1998, ISBN 0-88730-997-6 .
  • Donald Maine: Maine Street: A Tribute to 27 West Michigan Entrepreneurs. Pearson Custom, Boston MA 2002, ISBN 0-536-67991-6 .
  • Julie Christianson Stivers: The Presence of the Past: the Public Museum of Grand Rapids at 150. Public Museum of Grand Rapids, 2004, ISBN 0-9666524-1-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Amway Co-Founder Jay Van Andel Dies Fox News December 7, 2004, accessed March 31, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Obituary: Memories of Jay Van Andel, In: Amagram-Beilage 1/2005.
  3. ↑ a b Learning to give.org: David Van Andel , accessed March 31, 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.vai.org/ accessed on March 31, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Van Andel, Jay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American businessman
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Grand Rapids, Michigan
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 2004