 |
Visionary philanthropist
and entrepreneur Tom Slick founded the Mind Science Foundation in
1958.
Shortly before his tragic death, only four
years later, he wrote:
“I regard the creation of the Mind Science Foundation
as the most important undertaking of my life … The
human mind has tremendous unexplored potential and I
want to go
about the discovery and development of that potential
in a scientific
way.”
|
During his action-packed life, Tom Slick:
Received a Phi Beta Kappa key from Yale University in
pre-med biology and took graduate courses at Harvard and MIT.
His
father was called the “King of the
Wildcatters,” and
his intuitive feel for Texas oil fields funded Tom Slick’s excellent
education. Slick himself inherited some of his father’s intuition, and
helped to build Slick Oil company into a multi-million dollar company in
the early
1960s.
Founded the Southwest Research Institute. Today,
the Institute employs more than 2800 people in two million square
feet of laboratories,
test facilities,
and offices, with total revenues of $320 million. It is now the world’s
third-largest nonprofit applied research institute, with clients from around
the world. In 2003, NASA asked SwRI to conduct the tests that helped discover
the causes of the Columbia disaster.
Founded the Southwest Foundation
for Biomedical Research in1941,
which today supports a staff of nearly 400, including more than 60 PhDs,
and a $50
million budget. The first baboon-to-human heart transplant took place
there in 1984.
Launched numerous other business ventures --
including Slick
Airways,
a cargo carrier; invented and patented the Lift-Slab construction process used
for building multi-story buildings even today; and headed a mining
company that bought old
mines, especially diamond mines. While hunting diamonds in British
Guiana in 1956, his plane was forced down and he lived with a native
bush tribe
until
rescued.
Authored a number of books, often focused on his vision
of world peace. Prentice-Hall published his book Permanent Peace:
A Check and Balance Plan in
1958. Funded a Tom Slick World Peace Series of lectures at the LBJ
Library (UT-Austin).
An intrepid explorer, sponsored two expeditions
to Nepal in the late 1950s, hoping to find the Yeti in order to
scientifically determine
whether
it was a legitimate ‘missing link’ between Homo sapiens
and earlier primates.
Was the subject of a lengthy profile in FORTUNE
MAGAZINE in July 1960; although he was modest and not a self-promoter,
the article
highlighted
his career as
a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, art collector and
gracious, popular host.
Died, when just 46 years old, in a 1962
plane crash while returning from Canada.
For more details on Tom Slick's life, please visit
the Texas
State Historical Association.
|
