Theodore Richard Stanley (April 26, 1931 – January 3, 2016)[1][2] was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He co-founded the Danbury Mint[2] with business partner Ralph Glendinning, which was then a subsidiary of MBI Inc.
In 1969 Stanley co-founded the Danbury Mint, which sells collectibles (such as commemorative postage stamps, decorative plates, medals, commemorative coins, and similar items) it has produced for it by mail order.[3]
The Mint's first product was a medal series that commemorated the Apollo 11 first crewed Moon landing. After this, the business continued to expand,[4] enough to make Stanley a billionaire during his lifetime.[3]
Connection to mental health
In 1988, Stanley's son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19 after having a psychiatric episode that saw him running around New York streets for 3 days and stripping off his clothes in public.[2][3][5][6] His son was eventually helped with a lithium treatment, and eventually finished college and law school,[3][6] but during the course of his son's treatment he met many parents who were not so lucky, whose children did not improve after treatment.[4] In response, Stanley started donating to mental health research.[7]
Philanthropy
Stanley died in his sleep in New Canaan, Connecticut.[5] Before he died, Stanley made a large donation to the Broad Institute of Cambridge, MA[8] of approximately $650 million for research into genetic markers of mental health.[2][4][9] It is recognized as one of the largest private donations ever to support scientific research and the largest ever for mental health research.[5] Before his estates large $650 million donation, which comprised the majority of Stanley's financial holdings,[4] he had periodically donated an additional $175 million, making his lifetime contribution to the Broad Institute $825 million, to support work and research.[5]
