Charles F. Haanel (1866-1949) was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began his business career in St. Louis. He resigned his position in order to start his own company and eventually founded one of the largest conglomerates of his time. Mr. Haanel put into books the ideas and methods he used to gain his success. Besides the Master Key System, which he wrote in 1917, he also wrote Mental Chemistry and The New Psychology. Mr. Haanel died in 1949 and is buried in Bellafontaine Cemetery, St. Louis. Walter B. Stevens described Mr. Haanel as "a man of mature judgment, capable of taking a calm survey of life and correctly valuing its opportunities, its possibilities, its demands and obligations."