Old Babson Profiles

From humble New England roots, Roger Babson crafted a legacy of innovation, philanthropy, and entrepreneurial leadership that has endured for a century.

A Gloucester, Massachusetts native, Babson graduated from MIT, and subsequently made his fortune by founding Babson’s Statistical Organization (later known as Babson Reports), one of the first publishers of economic analysis. Babson pioneered the concept of using data for economic forecasting and famously predicted the 1929 stock market crash.

A philanthropist and author of more than 50 books, he founded the Babson Institute in 1919. In later life, he was a candidate for president of the United States in 1940, became a leading Newtonia collector, and established Webber College in Florida and Utopia College in Kansas. Today, Babson College is the global leader in entrepreneurship education, imbued with its namesake’s zeal for learning, serving humanity, and unparalleled global vision.

Do you want to read more about Roger?

Note: This profile is from the statue of Roger Babson located at Babson College.

Hard to imagine,  but for a minute take yourself back in time.  You’re a 14 year old from Viken, Sweden in the 1880s.  Life is not easy, particularly for young girls, where opportunities just do not exist.

So you and your family take a gamble believing that you would be better off sailing to America, by yourself, never to see your loved ones again.  No Facetime, no Facebook, no email.

This was the situation Emma found herself in when she arrived on the shore of Gloucester, Massachusetts, alone, scared, but determined. You might wonder how her adventure unfolded.

Emma meets Elmer, a young farmer and veterinarian from Cape Ann. They start a family and have three boys.  David and W. Warren graduate from Harvard and Osman from Cornell, each creating their own legacy.

Her oldest son, Warren, went on to medical school. He became an esteemed surgeon at Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, and the 85th president of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

At Cornell, her middle son, Osman, became a veterinarian like his dad. If you are on Cape Ann, GPS “Dr. Osman Babson Road” and you can drive through what was once Elmer and Emma’s family homestead.

Her youngest son, David chose to explore a different career path and became a pioneer in the field of “investment counseling”. He started the prestigious “David L. Babson Company” and has been featured in numerous publications and television shows as a visionary in his discipline.

As the story is told, David arrived home on break from Harvard to present his father a perfect report card. After a seemingly lackluster reply, David asked his dad if anything was wrong.  Elmer replied, “Nothing, son, but you have been home for 15 minutes, and you still do not have your overalls on”.  Elmer’s integrity and Yankee work ethic would lead to him being elected the mayor of Gloucester in 1937.

For the past 50 years, the Babson Historical Society has been led by three of Elmer and Emma’s grandchildren: Marcia Babson Rogers, Katherine L. Babson Jr., and David Elmer Babson.  Quite a legacy for a Cape Ann farm boy and a 14 year old Swedish girl who risked everything to give her family a leg up. Hard to imagine.