James T. Stephens

James T. "Jim" Stephens (born April 14, 1939) is an American billionaire heir, businessman and philanthropist from Alabama.

James T. Stephens
Born (1939-04-14) April 14, 1939
Birmingham, Alabama, US
Alma materYale University
Harvard Business School
OccupationBusinessman
Known forChairman of EBSCO Industries
Net worthUS$4 billion (Stephens family, 2014)[1][2]
Spouse(s)Julie Stephens
Children5
Parent(s)Elton Bryson Stephens, Sr.
Alys Robinson

Early life

James T. Stephens was born on April 14, 1939, in Birmingham, Alabama.[3] His father, Elton Bryson Stephens, Sr., founded EBSCO Industries in 1944.[4][5][6] His mother, Alys Robinson, died in 1996.[4]

He graduated from Yale University, where he received a bachelor's degree in history in 1961.[3] He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1964.[3]

Career

Stephens served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army.[4] He joined the family business, EBSCO Industries, where he served as President from 1970 to 2005.[3] He served as its chairman from 2002 to 2017. [4][5]

He was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2012.[3]

Philanthropy

Stephens previously served as the chairman of the boards of trustees of the Highlands School, the Altamont School, and Birmingham-Southern College.[3] Additionally, he served as the chairman of the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America.[3]

He donated US$2 million to the United Way of Central Alabama.[3] He has endowed scholarships at Jefferson State Community College, Troy University, and Birmingham-Southern College.[3] He has also made charitable contributions to the God's Outreach Center in Harpersville, Alabama as well as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders.[3]

With his father, Stephens donated US$2.5 million to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.[6] They also donated US$15 million for the construction of the Elton B. Stephens Science Center on the campus of Birmingham–Southern College.[6]

Personal life

He is married to Julie Stephens.[3] They have four children, Bryson, Trent, Bart, and Alys.[3]

gollark: Technically, all attacks are physical attacks because they work on the laws of physics.
gollark: You can die, but you will also never experience that.
gollark: If I connect a random number generator to my universe destroying cuboid, say, and make it destroy the universe if it generates 4, then you have a chance of seeing any valid outcome but 4.
gollark: Not "the" timeline. There are generally lots of ways which things could turn out which still result in you living.
gollark: So you mostly just forget about it rapidly.

References
  1. https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2014/07/08/which-birmingham-family-did-forbes-name-one-of.html
  2. "Who are the richest Alabamians now that billionaire Marguerite Harbert has passed?". al.com. 2015-03-23. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  3. "Alabama Academy of Honor: James T. Stephens". www.archives.alabama.gov. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  4. America's Richest Families: Stephens family, Forbes
  5. Connor Sheets, Who are the richest Alabamians now that billionaire Marguerite Harbert has passed?, The Birmingham News, March 23, 2015
  6. Michael Tomberlin, Stephens family may be better known in Birmingham for generosity than $4 billion wealth, The Birmingham News, July 10, 2014
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