Sir John Templeton

As a pioneer in both financial investments and spiritual endeavors, John Marks Templeton spent a lifetime encouraging open-mindedness.

Beginning a Wall Street career in 1937, Templeton created some of the world's largest and most successful international investment funds. Termed "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century" by Money Magazine (Jan. 1999), he sold his various Templeton funds in 1992 to the Franklin Group for $440 million.

• After moving to Nassau, the Bahamas, Templeton was knighted Sir John by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his many accomplishments. One of those was creating the world's richest award, the $1 million-plus Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, presented annually in London since 1972.