Roger Ward Babson

Born in 1875 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Roger Ward Babson built a national reputation as a statistician, financial writer, and economic forecaster. He founded a business statistics service that grew into Babson's Reports, and he became widely known for using data to explain market trends in plain language for ordinary readers and investors.

Babson wrote books and gave frequent lectures on money, work, and personal responsibility. He is often remembered for his warnings about speculation before the 1929 stock market crash, as well as for his strong interest in efficiency, frugality, and social reform.

His influence reached beyond finance. He helped found Babson College in Massachusetts, supported projects in his hometown of Gloucester, and later established the Gravity Research Foundation, reflecting his lifelong curiosity about science as well as business. He died in 1967, leaving behind a public legacy that mixed entrepreneurship, education, and a distinctly practical moral outlook.