[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 122 (Friday, October 1, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EWING MARION KAUFFMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 30, 2004

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Kansas 
City's own ``Prescription for Success,'' Ewing Marion Kauffman. Ewing 
Kauffman, one of Kansas City's greatest entrepreneurial leaders and 
philanthropists, is being honored on September 30, 2004 for the 
continuing gift and proud legacy he left to the community and nation 
through his Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
  Ewing Kauffman's humble boyhood and successful adulthood are a 
classic Horatio Alger story. He was born September 21, 1916 near Garden 
City, in Cass County Missouri. Growing up in rural Missouri and later 
in Kansas City, Ewing's background of hard work and perseverance 
through adversity instilled the discipline, entrepeneurial principles 
and philanthropic sympathies that resulted in his extraordinary 
achievements and remarkable success later in life.
  As a boy he sold fish and eggs door-to-door. While bedridden for an 
entire year with a heart ailment at the age of 11, Ewing read as many 
as 40 books a month. He worked through high school and junior college 
driving a laundry truck and earned an associate degree in business in 
1936 from Kansas City Junior College. He entered the Navy in World War 
II and was discharged as Navigator and Ensign.
  Upon returning from the war, Ewing began his phenomenal career in 
pharmaceutics. He started out as a salesman and became the best one in 
the business. With a $5,000 investment, he founded Marion Laboratories 
in 1950. He operated initially out of the basement of his home. He 
reportedly chose to use his middle name for his company rather than his 
last name in order to not reveal his one-man operation: Ewing Kauffman, 
salesman by day and Marion Labs Manufacturer by night.
  Ewing Kauffman attributed his success as a direct result of one 
fundamental philosophy: Treat others as you would like to be treated. 
``It is the happiest principle by which to live and the most 
intelligent principle by which to do business and make money,'' he 
said. His entreprenurial success enabled him to help others. He was 
beloved by his associates in the pharmaceutical firm through which he 
provided jobs and economic self-sufficiency to thousands.
  He also shared his success with all of Kansas City by bringing back 
Major League Baseball to the region with his purchase of the Kansas 
City Royals in 1968, boosting the cities economic base, community 
profile and civic pride. Ewing's beloved wife, the late Muriel McBrien 
Kauffman, a philanthropist in her own right with her gifts and 
perpetual bequests to Kansas City Arts organizations, is also credited 
with encouraging her husband to invest in the Royals. Their daughter, 
Julia Irene Kauffman, continues their loving tradition of philanthropy 
in Kansas City today.
  Kauffman's most enduring gift and greatest legacy was the 
establishment of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the mid 1960s. 
The Kauffman Foundation places special emphasis on improving the 
academic achievement of our youth, and in stimulating the growth of 
entrepreneurship in America. For over 40 years the Kauffman Foundation 
has successfully helped other to help others to live self-sufficiently 
and has benefited communities through out the country.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in commemorating this most gifted, 
successful, inspirational, and generous man whose loving legacy has 
made a difference in countless lives and whose love of the 
entrepreneurial spirit lives on in the Ewing Marion Kauffman 
Foundation.




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