ELBERT HUBBARD was that rarest of beings: a philosophical businessman. A true American original, he founded the Roycrofters, an Arts & Crafts community in East Aurora, NY, that produced handmade furniture, leather and copper goods, and fine books.

A prolific author, Hubbard published two magazines, The Philistine and The Fra, and wrote a steady stream of essays and biographies (called Little Journeys).

Though his philosophy was inspired by Emerson and Thoreau, valuing nature and simplicity, Hubbard was also a friend of American enterprise. Among his admirers were John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford, as well as Teddy Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington, Stephen Crane, and Clarence Darrow.

His best-known work is A Message to Garcia.  In it, he argues that the real hero is the man who simply does his job, overcoming all obstacles to complete the task at hand. Within Hubbard’s lifetime, The Message was  reprinted more than any other book besides the Bible.

On May 7, 1915, Elbert Hubbard and his wife, Alice, died in the sinking of the steamship Lusitania by a German submarine. The inscription on their monument reads: “They lived and died fearlessly.”