Roger Babson

Who was Roger Babson?

Roger Ward Babson, remembered today largely for founding Babson College in Massachusetts, was an entrepreneur and business theorist in the first half of the 20th century. He also founded Webber College, now Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, and the defunct Utopia College, in Eureka, Kansas.

He was born to Nathaniel Babson and his wife Ellen Stearns as part of the tenth generation of Babsons to live in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Roger attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for investment firms before founding, in 1904, Babson's Statistical Organization, which analyzed stocks and business reports. It continues today as Babson-United, Inc..

On March 29, 1900, Babson married his first wife, Grace Margaret Knight.

According to biographer John Mulkern, Babson attributed the business cycle

Babson authored more than forty books on economic and social problems, the most widely read being Business Barometers and Business Barometers for Profits, Security, Income. Babson also wrote hundreds of magazine articles and newspaper columns. He was a popular lecturer on business and financial trends.