Richard DeVos's 100th Birthday: How His Vision Shaped American Enterprise
This year doesn’t just mark the 250th anniversary of America. Rich DeVos—the animating force behind The Believe! Journal—also would have celebrated his 100th birthday. In light of this milestone, his son, Dan DeVos, and Northwood University leaders Dr. Kent MacDonald and Dr. Timothy Nash wrote an op-ed for the Detroit News about how Rich’s life “mirrors America itself.” We’re pleased to reprint the op-ed for you here.
The Believe! Journal Editorial Team
This year we celebrated the United States’ semiquincentennial with a crescendo on July 4.
It’s fitting that as we celebrate this remarkable milestone, we also honor a man whose life began 100 years ago, March 4, 1926, a man whose vision, faith, and perseverance helped shape the spirit of modern enterprise and freedom.
A husband, father, and grandfather, Richard Marvin DeVos was a friend to many. Although a prominent American businessman, DeVos was more than just an entrepreneur; he believed in people, possibility, and the power of freedom to transform lives. His life story mirrors America itself — rooted in faith, family, and hard work, while uplifted by a firm belief in the dignity and potential of every individual.
DeVos graduated from Grand Rapids Christian High School and attended Calvin College where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He bravely served his country in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force.
DeVos fought valiantly, like his band of brothers on all fronts, and helped win World War II with distinction. After the war the soldiers returned home to transform the U.S. into the world’s political and economic superpower. From manufacturing automobiles and walking on the moon to the production and sales of consumer products and technological breakthroughs in health care and science, America was the place to be.
Rich DeVos, along with his partner Jay Van Andel, started a company and named it Amway, a tribute to “The American Way.” Amway grew into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. He also used his entrepreneurial talents to create the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
DeVos believed that to succeed, one must first decide to make something of themselves, take responsibility for their decision and be willing to pay the price of success. According to Rich, “The most important lesson I have learned are the three most important words Churchill gave during a 1941 address at his alma mater, “Never give in”.
Rich wrote several books, including the international best seller “Compassionate Capitalism (1993): People Helping People Help Themselves.”
The book challenges readers to be entrepreneurial, successful, and compassionate while maximizing the role of the consumer in a world centered on Judeo-Christian values, the environment, and strong, successful U.S. and global economies. DeVos cites dozens of anecdotes where struggling Amway employees take the “bull by the horns” and transform themselves, their co-workers and the company to greater success. The book also reviews DeVos’ intriguing 16-part “Credo for Compassionate Capitalism'' that draws heavily on his faith, and blends it with those of capitalism.
When he and Van Andel started Amway, they were promoting the idea that entrepreneurship is one of the purest forms of freedom, empowering ordinary people to achieve great things through courage, character and community.
Over the years, Rich learned that true success is measured not just by what you gain, but by what you give. His leadership showed the belief that achievement matters most when it helps others and strengthens our communities. As he often said, “Life is about serving others. The more you give, the more you get — not in dollars, but in spirit, satisfaction and joy.”
His conviction, that business, grounded in integrity, can enrich lives and strengthen society lives on in countless communities and organizations, especially the Richard M. DeVos Graduate School of Management at Northwood University. Each day, our faculty and students uphold the ideals he cherished: inspired entrepreneurship, principled leadership, personal responsibility, service to others, and the courage to think independently.
It is meaningful — and perhaps providential — that Richard M. DeVos’s 100th birthday coincides with America’s 250th anniversary year. These milestones together invite us to reflect on the enduring truths that shape both a great nation and a meaningful life.
Kent M. MacDonald, Ph.D., is president and CEO of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. Daniel G. DeVos, Ph.D., is president and CEO of DP Fox Ventures, LLC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Timothy G. Nash, Ph.D., is director of The Center for the Advancement of Freedom, Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (NUCAFFEE) at Northwood University. This article will also appear in a forthcoming release from Northwood University Press—“Books and the Founding Fathers: And Their Influence on America Today,” by Dr. George H. Nash and Dr. Timothy G. Nash, with a foreword by Dr. Kent D. MacDonald—which examines the ideas that shaped America’s founding and their relevance today.
