Background
Elton Bryson Stephens, Senior, was born on August 4, 1911, in Clio, Alabama.
Businessman founder philanthropist
Elton Bryson Stephens, Senior, was born on August 4, 1911, in Clio, Alabama.
Stephens founded Military Service Company in 1944, with only United States$5,000. The company sold magazine subscriptions to the United States Army. lieutenant later became known as EBSCO Industries, a diversified company in "information services, publishing and digital media, outdoor products, real estate, manufacturing and general services."
Stephens established the Metropolitan Arts Council of Birmingham in 1986.
Additionally, he donated United States$1 million to the United Way of Central Alabama in 1997, joining their Million Dollar Roundtable.
He has made charitable contributions to the Birmingham Museum of Art, where the Stephens Family Gallery is named in his family"s honor. Moreover, the Red Mountain Expressway was renamed the Elton B. Stephens Expressway by the City of Birmingham on September 11, 1975.
They also donated United States$15 million for the construction of the Elton B. Stephens Science Center on the campus of Birmingham–Southern College. He died on February 5, 2005.