Edward Lowe’s career as an entrepreneur spanned a busy and challenging lifetime. After graduating from high school and completing four years of service in the U.S. Navy, he joined his father in the family coal and sawdust business. In 1947, Ed set off on his own, marketing an innovative product he invented and developed—Kitty Litter®— literally creating the entire cat-box filler industry in the process. This marked the beginning of Edward Lowe Industries, Inc., which would eventually grow into a multinational company, producing and marketing products for many diverse industries (including a second successful cat-box filler known as Tidy Cat®). With a number of patents to his credit, Mr. Lowe’s entrepreneurial spirit never dwindled, and he continued to create innovative products and provide unique services to other entrepreneurs. In 1985, Ed and his wife Darlene established the Edward Lowe Foundation in an effort to inform, educate, and represent entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Edward Lowe Conference Center at the Foundation’s sprawling complex in southwestern Michigan offers distinctive facilities at which entrepreneurs, service organizations, and non-profit groups can meet to share ideas and information. The Foundation actively supports educational programs, maintains extensive information services (including a World Wide Web site on the Internet) and provides a voice for small business among our nation’s policymakers. In 1993, the Foundation also sponsored several “Free Enterprise Briefings,” bringing together small business owners from throughout the Midwest to discuss specific challenges, or “brick walls,” that affect small businesses and hamper their ability to grow and succeed. In the spring of 1994, Ed Lowe personally delivered the results of these briefings to President Clinton during a private meeting at the White House. The Foundation is also sponsoring two of Hillsdale College’s award-winning Shavano Institute for National Leadership seminars on January 29-30, 1996 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sarasota, Florida and on May 20-21, 1996 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. An accomplished author, Mr. Lowe’s published works included a guide to basic business survival skills entitled Hail Entrepreneur!; an autobiography, The Man Who Discovered the Golden Cat; and a collection of original poetry, Reflections in the Mill Pond.