The Fetzer Institute

love : forgiveness : compassion

 

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Our Founder

Our Founder

  • A black and white photo of John Fetzer with his youth basketball team. He is the tallest player.

    Our Founder: Early Years John Fetzer (center) with his youth basketball team Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

  • John Fetzer's high school graduation photo and in 1949 wearing his War Correspondent uniform

    Our Founder: Formative Years John Fetzer's high school graduation photo and in 1949 wearing his War Correspondent uniform Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

  • John Fetzer on the air in 1949

    Fetzer Broadcasting Company John Fetzer on the air in 1949 Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

  • A photo of John E. Fetzer in a suit, sunglasses and hat at a Detroit Tigers game.

    Detroit Tigers Owner John Fetzer at Busch Stadium for the last game of the 1968 World Series in which the Tigers won Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

  • An older John E. Fetzer gives a Keynote speech, standing behind a podium.

    Keynote Address John Fetzer giving keynote address at 1988 Global Conference Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

  • An older John Fetzer standing in front of large glass windows.

    Fetzer Institute John Fetzer standing in the atrium at the Fetzer Institute Image Credit: Fetzer Institute

The founder of the Fetzer Institute, John Earl Fetzer (1901-1991), held a keen interest in the relationship between the inner life of spirit and the outer life of service in the world. He founded the Institute on the belief that efforts to address the world’s critical issues must go beyond political, social, and economic strategies—and address the psychological and spiritual roots of these issues.

Trained as an electrical engineer, John E. Fetzer began his career in 1931 by designing, building, and operating his own radio station that he then expanded into a Michigan-based, multistate broadcasting empire including radio, television, cable, and closed-circuit music transmission. In his private life, John Fetzer had an intense intellectual curiosity about the "unseen elements" of life. He studied various forms of meditation, prayer, philosophy, and positive thinking, and explored alternative ways of healing. Throughout his life he was also passionately interested in baseball, an enthusiasm that led him to purchase the Detroit Tigers baseball club. In his later years, the sale of the team and his media holdings resulted in the endowment of the Fetzer Institute.