Charles F. Haanel (1866-1949)
Charles F. Haanel was a noted American author and businessman who belonged to the American Scientific League, The Author’s League of America, The American Society of Psychical Research, the St. Louis Humane Society and the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Charles F. Haanel 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.
He wrote several books which were published in St. Louis by Psychology Publishing and by his Master Key Institute in New York. Mr. Haanel put into books the ideas and methods he used to gain his success. Besides the “Master Key System,” which he wrote in 1912, he also wrote “Mental Chemistry” and “The New Psychology”
By 1933 The Master Key System had sold over 200,000 copies and then seemingly disappeared.
He was married in 1885 to Miss Esther M. Smith. She passed away sixteen years later, left with a son and two daughters. He married again, this time to Miss Margarate Nicholson of St Louis.
During his life he earned and received many degrees, including an honory Ph.D. from the College of National Electronics Institute, a Psy.D in Metaphysics from the College of Divine Metaphysics and an M.D. from the Universal College of Dupleix, India.
He was also a thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner. and a member of Pi Gamma Mu fraternity.
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.”
