James E. Stowers

James E. "Jim" Stowers, Jr. (January 10, 1924 – March 17, 2014) was the founder of American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the son and grandson of medical doctors, Stowers graduated from Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri, where he also completed a two-year degree in medicine. He joined the Army Air Corps where he became a fighter pilot and gunnery instructor. Upon his return to civilian life in 1945, he enlisted in the Air Force Reserves and served as a captain until resigning his commission in 1957. Stowers entered the business world, after deciding not to become a doctor like his father and grandfather. After a stint selling mutual funds for Kansas-based Waddell & Reed, he founded a term life insurance firm – J.E. Stowers and Company.

In 1958, Stowers started Twentieth Century Mutual Funds, a family of no-load funds, in Kansas City, Missouri. Stowers started the funds in 1958 with just $107,000 in assets from 24 shareholders. He built his business concentrating on small investors. The company changed its name to American Century Investments in 2000. American Century's headquarters are located at 4500 Main in Kansas City, Missouri, near the Country Club Plaza, and employs around 1,600 people.

In 1994, Stowers and his wife Virginia Stowers, both cancer survivors, founded the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a $2 billion biomedical research facility also located in Kansas City. The institute's mission is to make a significant contribution to humanity through medical research by expanding our understanding of the secrets of life and by improving life's quality through innovative approaches to the causes, treatment and prevention of diseases.

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