Melvin Jones
"You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else." — Melvin Jones, Founder · Lions Clubs International
Selfless service and sacrifice, devotion, and dedication towards the cause of the less fortunate make a man truly great. One such truly great man was our founder, Melvin Jones.
Melvin Jones was born on January 13, 1879, in Fort Thomas, Arizona, the son of a United States Army captain who commanded a troop of scouts. As his father was transferred across postings, the family moved east, and as a young man Melvin Jones made his home in Chicago, Illinois.
He became associated with an insurance firm and in 1913 formed his own agency — a testament to the drive and ambition that would later reshape the landscape of humanitarian service.
He soon joined the Business Circle, a businessman's luncheon group, and was shortly elected secretary. This group was one of many at the time devoted solely to promoting the financial interests of their membership — limited in purpose and, because of it, destined to disappear.
Melvin Jones had other plans. He asked a question that would echo through history:
"What if these men — who are successful because of their drive, intelligence, and ambition — were to put their talents to work improving their communities?"
Thus, on June 7, 1917, Lions Clubs International was born.
Melvin Jones eventually abandoned his insurance agency entirely to devote himself full time to Lions at International Headquarters in Chicago. His personal code became a guiding principle for public-spirited people the world over — a philosophy as powerful today as it was over a century ago.
He died on June 1, 1961 at the age of 82. But his vision, his courage, and his conviction that ordinary people could change the world through service lives on in every Lions Club on every continent.